Everton's League Cup Struggles: A Haunting History
The League Cup has never really loved Everton. The feeling, you suspect, is mutual.
Since the competition began in 1960-61, Everton have reached just two finals. Two. For a club of their size, that statistic alone carries a sting. The first came in 1977, when Aston Villa finally broke them in the third match of a marathon final, snatching it in the last minute of extra time. The second was in 1984, when Liverpool took the trophy and the bragging rights.
The scars did not fade in the 1990s. They deepened. Portsmouth, Millwall, York, Oxford – names that still trigger a wince among older Evertonians – all dumped them out in various humbling exits. This is a competition that has repeatedly found new ways to embarrass them.
Since that 1984 final, Everton have managed only three semi-final appearances. Three in four decades. The last of those, in 2016, ended in familiar anguish as they contrived to squander a 3-1 aggregate lead against Manchester City. The decade since has offered only brief flickers of hope: three quarter-final runs, yes, but four exits at the third-round stage in the last five seasons and five shootout defeats in their last eight ties.
So why should this season be any different?
Cameras, Pressure and a Manager Under the Microscope
Sky’s decision to roll the trucks into Deepdale on Wednesday night tells its own story. Broadcasters can smell an upset. Everton fans can too, especially after David Moyes’ recent comments that framed progress in the cups as a kind of trade-off with Premier League survival.
The logic has not gone down well. Nor should it, given Everton’s schedule. They are not in Europe. The squad, on paper at least, should cope with the extra load of a domestic cup run. Win a few knockout games, and the confidence, noise and momentum often spill over into league form. Clubs have ridden that wave before.
Moyes knows this, of course, but his selections have not always reflected it. Last season he tossed away a route to the fourth round, making sweeping changes for an away tie at Wolves. Wolves had lost five of their first six games. Everton still went out. The manager’s latest remarks hint at a similar mindset, and another early exit now would puncture much of the optimism generated by their opening-day win over Crystal Palace.
The stakes feel higher than a routine second-round tie should allow.
A Fixture From Another Era
Preston v Everton is one of English football’s oldest fixtures, yet it has drifted to the margins of the modern game. Both clubs were founder members of the Football League in 1888, and back then Preston were the powerhouse.
They won the very first league championship and the FA Cup in the same season, completing the domestic Double and earning the nickname the “Invincibles” by going unbeaten in the league. Only Arsenal’s 2003-04 side have matched that feat since. Preston retained the title the following year and then finished runners-up three seasons running. For a time, they set the standard.
The trophies dried up after their 1938 FA Cup win, but they remained a top-flight force into the 1950s, finishing Division One runners-up twice in that decade. Their fall came in 1961 with relegation – the last time Everton played a competitive match at Deepdale.
Since then, they have met just twice, both at Goodison Park. Both ended in 2-0 Everton wins, in the FA Cup and League Cup respectively. The Toffees have stayed in the limelight; Preston have lurked just outside it.
Their closest brushes with the Premier League came via the play-offs in 2001 and 2005. The first of those runs was under a familiar face: David Moyes. He spent five years as a player and four as manager at Preston, guiding them to promotion to Division One – now the Championship – in 2000 and then to that play-off final a year later. His roots at Deepdale run deep.
There is another, more recent, link. Preston’s first-round win in this season’s competition actually came at Goodison Park, with Deepdale’s pitch not yet ready. Since then, their league campaign has stumbled out of the blocks with defeats to Bolton and Wolves.
The Last Time They Met
To find the last meeting between these clubs you have to rewind 22 years, to 27 October 2004. Another League Cup tie, another 2-0 Everton win at Goodison. Lee Carsley and Marcus Bent provided the goals that night, and the Toffees moved on with minimal fuss.
No one expects “minimal fuss” this time.
Moyes’ Balancing Act
Team selection will tell you everything about Moyes’ priorities. He is expected to shuffle his pack, but the memory of last season’s Wolves defeat will make supporters wary of too much rotation.
Tyler Dibling, Carlos Alcaraz, Beto, Brennan Johnson and Jake O’Brien are all pushing to come into the side. On paper, those changes should add freshness rather than weaken the XI beyond recognition. On grass, in a tight, edgy cup tie away from home, the chemistry is less predictable.
Moyes, for his part, insists the idea that managers do not care about cups is nonsense.
“This is a question every journalist asks every manager and, in some ways, I think: ‘Are those journalists dead stupid? Do you think none of the managers want to win the cups?’
“If I asked you: ‘Would it be more important than staying in the Premier League?’ – what would your answer be? Your answer will half answer your own question.
“I can’t think of any manager who wouldn’t want a good run in a cup competition.”
The nuance is obvious to him. To supporters who have watched the League Cup slip through Everton’s fingers year after year, the nuance feels less comforting and more like a warning.
The cameras are in place. The history is heavy. The manager is under scrutiny. For a club with Everton’s League Cup baggage, this is the sort of night that either quietly resets the story – or writes another chapter they will be desperate to forget.
