Everton Football Club are the oldest club on Merseyside, having originally played their games at Anfield before the owner, John Houlding, put the rent up and the Blues decided that they didn’t want to pay the increased amount. Instead, the club decided to move across Stanley Park to set up shop at the purpose-built Goodison Park. In other words, the club has a long and illustrious history that is reflected in the manner in which the badge has changed and evolved over the years, representing each step of the club’s journey to where it is now.
The First Badge
As was common for teams at the time, Everton didn’t have a crest appear on the club kit until decades after the Blues were founded. The first one didn’t feature until around 1920, when players such as Tom Fleetwood, Sam Chedgzoy and Bobby Parker were lining up at Goodison Park. Even then it was a remarkably simplistic design, with a crest shape that had a white border and a blue background. Upon the background the letters ‘EFC’ were entwined together, spelling out the club’s initials in a manner that was, frankly, hard to make out.
22 January 1907. Everton legend William Ralph (“Dixie”) Dean was born in Birkenhead. He’s one of the greatest goal scorers in the English league. In the 1927-28 Division 1 season, he scored 60 goals for Everton. It’s a record that’s never been surpassed in England’s top division. pic.twitter.com/Lr7PwETbEa
— Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) January 22, 2021
In spite of the difficulty reading the letters, the badge remained in use for more than a decade, with a one season absence. In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, the club went back to playing without a badge on their shirts. Even so, in 1938 an insignia was created that would provide something of a template for many of the badges to come. It was created by Theo Kelly, who was the Club Secretary at the time and had been asked to come up with a design that could be used on the club’s official neck-ties that were worn by directors and others.
He chose to put the ‘Beacon’ in the centre of a crest with ‘Everton Football Club Co.’ above it. Below the crest was a scarf shape with the club’s Latin motto, Nil Satis Nisi Optimum, written on it. Either side of the Beacon were laurels. The Beacon, also known as ‘Everton Tower’ or ‘Prince Rupert’s Tower’, has been linked with the Everton area since it was built in 1787, still standing on Everton Brow in Netherfield Road to this day. Although Kelly and the Everton Chairman, Mr Green, wore the ties on the first day of the season, it didn’t appear on the shirt for decades.
Keeping it Simple Before the Tower Returns
When you consider the fact that club crests appear on the shirts of virtually every team nowadays, it is perhaps a touch remarkable that one didn’t go back on to Everton’s match shirts until 1972. At that point, white ‘EFC’ letters were embroidered onto the blue shirts, keeping things as simply as possible. In spite of the simplicity of the design, it remained in use for the four years that followed. The letters were cursive in their nature, making them slightly tricky to read and leading to a more straightforward design arriving in 1976.
In 1978 the club made a decision to bring Kelly’s Everton Tower back into use. This time, the badge was circular, with the outer circle being blue with a white background. Upon that white background stood a crest with a blue background and a green border, which had ‘EVERTON F.C.’ above it. Below the crest was another scarf with ‘Nil Satis’ on one side, ‘Nisi Optimum’ on the other and ‘EFC’ in the middle. In the crest itself stood the Everton Tower in white, with green laurels standing either side of the top of it.
Variations on a Theme
In 1982, a simplified version of the crest was brought in. It remained circular, this time with a thick white border and a blue background. In the middle stood the Everton Tower and the two laurel wreaths, whilst the word ‘EVERTON’ was found above the tower. All of the things in the middle of the crest were in yellow. This only lasted one season, because in 1983 a new badge arrived coming in time for the club’s most successful period. Now there was no round shape on the outside, making it is as simplistic as possible.
The letters ‘EFC’ stood at the top in blue, with the ‘F’ being slightly bigger than the ‘E’ and the ‘C’. Directly beneath the ‘F’ was the Everton Tower, whilst either side of it and slightly smaller were the two laurels. They were all in yellow, with the design remaining in place for nearly a decade. The decision had been taken to remove the name of the club as well as the Latin motto, which remained the case until the new badge was introduced in 1991.
Moving Towards the Modern Design
In 1991, a version that was something of a cousin of the 1978 badge was introduced at Everton. This presented a return of the crest shape, with a blue border and a white background. Within the crest stood the Everton Tower, with two laurels next to the top of it and all of them in blue. Underneath it was a return to the scarf or scroll shape, in which were the words ‘NIL SATIS’ on one side and ‘NISI OPTIMUM’ on the other, with the words being in white to stand out from their blue background.
This was the badge that Everton had on their kit when they won the FA Cup in 1995, with no one associated with Everton aware of the fact that that would be their last piece of silverware for more than 30 years. It was eventually replaced in 2000, with the Blues opting for a more vivid and modern-looking alternative. It kept the crest shape with the scarf or scroll underneath it, but this time the border was in a yellow colour. On one side of the crest was the number ’18’, whilst the number ’78’ was on the other side – the club’s year of formation.
The Everton Tower was once again put front and centre of the crest, being just a touch shy of the height of the whole thing, with the two laurels on either side of the tower part. Both the Everton Tower and the laurels were in white on a blue background. The scroll still boasted the words ‘NIL SATIS’ on side and ‘NISI OPTIMUM’ on the other, whilst beneath that was the word ‘Everton’ in a blue colour. The badge remained the one the club used for more than a decade until the current one was introduced.
The Current Crest
For the 2013-2014 season, Everton decided to introduce an updated version of the badge that looked to simplify the previous one. It saw the crest become much larger, keeping the yellow border but bringing in a darker blue background. The Tower remained the main part of it, but the laurels were removed and replaced with ’18’ on one side and ’78’ on the other. Underneath the crest was the word ‘Everton’ in white. This design was not a popular one with supporters, so a consultation exercise was carried out.
Three more designs were put forward and were voted on by fans, with the badge that is currently in use being the overwhelming winner. As a result, it was introduced to the club’s kit in the July of 2014 and has remained in place since. It is a crest with a white border, with the background being a dark blue. The Everton Tower sits at the middle of the top, with laurels on either side and all of them being in white. Underneath the tower is the word ‘Everton’, then under that is 1878. There is then a scroll that says ‘NIL SATIS NISI OPTIMUM’.