Today’s date, September, can be written 8-9, representing the squad number move made by Everton striker James Beattie prior to the start of the 2006-07 season – though, as we shall see, it was a year later than he hoped.
That is one of ten different switches within the 1-11 (or 2-11, realistically) bracket by Everton players since squad numbers were introduced. Here they are, in temporal order.
1995 – Earl Barrett and Graham Stuart
Stuart had been assigned 21 at previous club Chelsea for the 1993-94 season but signed for Everton that August and was given the number 8 that had been earmarked for Peter Beardsley before his move back to Newcastle.
When, in the summer of 1995, Everton re-jigged their numbers, Paul Rideout – who had scored the winner in the FA Cup final against Manchester United – moved from 15 to 8, with Stuart shifting to 7 to accommodate him.
Vinny Samways, who had taken 7 when he joined from Tottenham Hotspur in 1994-95, was given 16 and another player being bumped upwards was Matt Jackson, who was moved from 2 to 15.
That was because he had been usurped as first-choice right-back Earl Barrett. When he signed from Villa during 1994-95, he took the 4 that had been left vacant by Ian Snodin’s departure but he took 2 (allowing David Unsworth to drop from 26 to 4).
2005 – Duncan Ferguson
At the time of the two above-mentioned switches, Duncan Ferguson was Everton’s number 9 but he moved to Newcastle United in 1998-99.
After a year and a half wearing number 20 at St James’ Park, he re-signed for Everton in 2000 and initially he was assigned number 24.
With Kevin Campbell in possession of the number 9 shirt, Ferguson moved to 10 for the 2001-02 season.
After Stephen Hughes left and then, following Campbell’s move to West Bromwich Albion in 2005, Ferguson was reunited with 9 for his final season as a player at Goodison Park.
2006 – James Beattie
Just before Ferguson reclaimed the number 9, James Beattie had talked up his candidacy for wearing the famous shirt.
The attacker had joined from Southampton in 2004 and was allocated number 8, left empty after Tomasz Radzinski left.
He had to make do with 8 for another season as Ferguson enjoyed his swansong but did finally have the chance to wear 9 for the 2006-07 season – allowing the newly signed Andy Johnson to wear his favoured 8.
2008 – Mikel Arteta
After Ferguson’s move from 10 to 9, the number 10 was worn by Simon Davies for two seasons. Then, in 2007-08, defensive midfielder Thomas Gravesen – who had left Everton for Real Madrid in 2005 and then re-signed on loan from Celtic – had that on his back.
All that time, Mikel Arteta was number 6 for the Toffees following his arrival from Real Sociedad, a loan move made permanent, but in 2008 he made the move to reflect his growing importance in midfield.
2009 – Louis Saha
Not long after Arteta’s move, Everton signed Louis Saha from Manchester United.
Like Andy Johnson, the French striker’s preference was for number 8, which he wore in his final season at Fulham but then wore 9 throughout his time at Old Trafford.
He joined Everton on September 1, 2008, just three days after Ecuadorian midfielder Segundo Castillo had signed on loan from Red Star Belgrade and assumed the number 8 that was left free by Johnson’s move to Fulham.
Saha again had to make do with 9 – but, channelling Iván Zamorano, he added a tiny ‘-1’ to make it feel like 8. With Castillo moving on after just a handful of appearances, in 2009 Saha was able to make a move that was the opposite of what Beattie had three years previously.
2019 – Michael Keane
In 2017, Everton signed centre-back Michael Keane from Burnley.
He had worn number 25 and then 5 at Turf Moor but at Everton the 5 was in the possession of Ashley Williams.
Williams joined Stoke City on loan for the 2018-19 season and 5 was assigned to Kurt Zouma as he joined Everton on loan but, the following summer, Keane moved up a digit to his favoured digit.
2020 – Mason Holgate
After joining Everton from Barnsley in 2015, young defender Holgate originally wore number 30 before being given 2 in 2018-19 after establishing himself at right-back.
While he ended up spending most of that season on loan at West Bromwich Albion – wearing number 68 – he had more of an impact at Everton in 2019-20, playing at centre-back or midfield, which made the move to the vacant number 4 (the reverse Earl Barrett) a logical progression.
2023 – James Tarkowski and Nathan Patterson
After Holgate, Jonjoe Kenny became Everton’s number 2 but he left in 2022. So it was that, when James Tarkowski signed from Burnley that summer, it was the least-worst option as Holgate had 4, Keane 5 and midfielder Allan held 6.
The latter moved to Al Wahda in September of that year and so. With Tarkowski’s former Burnley manager Sean Dyche – the last man to send out a Premier League team wearing 1-11 – taking over at Everton during 2022-23, such a gift-horse was never going to be looked in the mouth and that number swap took place last summer.
That move allowed for another satisfying switch to take place.
Just before sacking Rafa Benítez in January 2022, Everton had allowed him to bring in players in the transfer window and he signed Nathan Patterson, a right-back, from Rangers and Vitaliy Mykolenko, a left-back, from Dynamo Kyiv. Number 3 had been vacant since Leighton Baines’ retirement in 2020 but, rather than giving it to another left-back, it went to Patterson.
In tandem with Tarkowski’s jump to 6 was Patterson shifting down one to 2, leaving 3 empty again for the 2023-24 season.
Bonus tracks
As mentioned in the article focused on him, David Unsworth wore 4 and then 6 for Everton, albeit with spells at West Ham United and (briefly) Aston Villa in between.
Another who wore two different 1-11 numbers across two stints for the Toffees was midfielder Gerard Deulofeu.
Signed on loan from Barcelona for the 2013-14, he wore number the number 10. While he spent the following season on loan at Sevilla, Everton signed him in the summer of 2015.
By that stage, Romelu Lukaku had taken over the number 10 and so Deulofeu was assigned 19. Following Aiden McGeady’s exit, Deulofeu was able to move to number 7 for 2016-17.
And finally, not fully related to squad numbers but worth of note, nonetheless: in 1993-94, Everton assigned number 3 to left-back Andy Hinchcliffe and 6 to Gary Ablett, who was comfortable at left-back or centre-back.
After winning the 1995 FA Cup, Everton qualified for the European Cup Winners’ Cup for 1995-96, which proved to be the last season where 1-11 numbeing was in operation for Uefa competitions. Against Icelandic side KR Reykjavik, Ablett was picked at left-back with Hinchcliffe pushing forward into midfield and so each wore the other’s usual number.
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