Everton v Burnley

A chapel congregation in Liverpool gave their football club one name in 1878, then thought better of it a year later.

Founded as St. Domingo FC in 1878 by the congregation of St. Domingo Methodist New Connexion Chapel in the Everton district of Liverpool, the club adopted the name Everton in November 1879. Just four years later, Burnley FC was formally established in 1882, having evolved from Burnley Rovers. Both clubs would become founding members of the Football League, setting the stage for one of English football's longest-running fixtures.

Twelve clubs. One league. Both sides there from the very first whistle.

On 8 September 1888, the Football League kicked off with twelve founding members. Everton and Burnley were both among them. Their first league meeting came that very season, with Everton winning 3-1 at Anfield (then Everton's home ground) on 22 December 1888. Burnley claimed the league's first-ever championship in 1891, while Everton took the title in 1891 as well, finishing top of the table in the 1890-91 season.

England's first purpose-built football ground didn't just host this fixture; it defined it for over a century.

After a dispute with their Anfield landlord John Houlding, Everton relocated across Stanley Park to a new ground at Mere Green Field, which became Goodison Park. It was the first major football ground built in England, and it hosted Burnley regularly from that point on. Goodison became the stage for this fixture for over 130 years, lending it a particular atmosphere that few grounds could match: tight terraces, steep stands, and the crowd practically on top of the pitch.

Burnley's historic 30-match unbeaten run to open the 1920-21 season took in a visit to Goodison Park on their way to the First Division title.

Burnley won the First Division title in 1920-21, going on a remarkable 30-match unbeaten run from the start of the season. That run included a visit to Goodison Park. It was the golden age for the Clarets, who had also won the FA Cup in 1914. Everton, meanwhile, were building towards their own title-winning side of 1928, led by the prolific Dixie Dean.

Burnley claimed the 1959-60 title by a single point; the finest of margins on the final day.

The 1959-60 season produced one of the most dramatic title races in English football history. Burnley, managed by Harry Potts, won the First Division championship by a single point from Wolverhampton Wanderers, with the title decided on the final day. Everton finished in a respectable position but were building towards their own dominance under Harry Catterick. The two clubs were regular top-flight rivals throughout this era, meeting twice a season as a matter of course.

Catterick's Toffees, powered by Ball, Kendall, and Harvey, left Burnley firmly in the shade.

Everton won the First Division title in 1962-63 and again in 1969-70, establishing themselves as one of the dominant forces in English football. Under Harry Catterick, the Toffees assembled a side featuring the likes of Alan Ball, Howard Kendall, and Colin Harvey. Burnley, by contrast, began a slow decline from the top flight. Their meetings during this period often saw Everton in the ascendancy, a reversal of the early 1960s when Burnley had been the stronger side.

From the top flight to the Fourth Division in under a decade; Burnley's fall was as steep as any in the English game.

Burnley were relegated from the First Division in 1975-76, beginning a painful descent that would eventually take them to the Fourth Division by 1985. The fixture between these two clubs, once a staple of the English top flight, disappeared from the calendar for extended periods. Everton, meanwhile, went on to enjoy their greatest era under Howard Kendall in the mid-1980s, winning two league titles, the FA Cup, and the European Cup Winners' Cup.

Thirty-three years away, one season back in 2009, then Dyche turned a brief return into a permanent fixture.

After 33 years away, Burnley returned to the top division in 2009 under Owen Coyle. Their visit to Goodison Park that season was the first league meeting between the clubs since the 1970s. Though Burnley were relegated after a single season, it marked the beginning of a renewed rivalry. Under Sean Dyche from 2012, Burnley would establish themselves as a regular Premier League presence, making the Everton fixture an annual fixture once more.

Ten years at Turf Moor, two promotions, a shoestring budget; then Dyche crossed the divide to face the club he built.

In January 2023, Everton appointed Sean Dyche as manager, the man who had built Burnley into a resilient Premier League outfit over nearly a decade. Dyche had been sacked by Burnley in April 2022 after ten years in charge, during which he had twice won promotion to the Premier League and kept the Clarets competitive on a fraction of their rivals' budgets. His appointment added a personal edge to the fixture, with Dyche facing his former club.

Over 130 years of history between two founding members of the Football League; Goodison's final chapter is nearly written.

Everton's move to their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, expected for the 2025-26 season, means that Goodison Park's days as a venue for this fixture are numbered. The 52,888-capacity ground on the Liverpool waterfront will bring a new era for the club, but the final meetings between Everton and Burnley at Goodison carry a weight of history that stretches back to the Victorian age. Over 130 years of football between these two founding members of the Football League, played out on the same patch of Merseyside turf.