Can a player be an "Everton Great" without winning a trophy?

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orly

orly

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Apologies for the slightly awkward title.

As a healthy debate continues in the Baines thread about this status as an "Everton Great" - or in the very highest pantheon of Everton players - I wondered if it was worth asking the straightforward question; can any past or present player be considered an Everton Great without winning a trophy of some kind?

For me, there are enough exceptions for it to be completely acceptable. But I think we wouldn't stretch this to managers. Obviously a player that wins a trophy with us does not become a de facto Great either.

It's of course slightly complicated by the fact that most of the "Greats" did of course win titles with us of some kind.

Thoughts?
 

Yes they can in my opinion, just there hasn't been any for some time.

I personally wouldn't class any player from the past 20 years as an Everton great even if I really liked them (Cahill, Martyn, Pienaar, Arteta, etc). The one who comes closest for me is Baines but I'm desperate for him to win a trophy with us before he packs it in to absolutely confirm his legendary status.
 

tlefc said:
Yeah, I think so. Bob Latchford didn't win anything did he?
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Excellent shout. I absolutely rated him while playing for Birmingham alongside Bob Hatton.
I often imagine what he would be like playing today. Similar Lukaku with a bit more gusto.
 
BlueLlama said:
The word is overused now really, the likes of Ball, Dixie and Southall are true greats
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Absolutely - the three examples I was going to use. All three won titles, and would feature heavily in most if not all lists of top 5 Everton greats.

Is Latchford the only real exception?

Would a trophy push any of the current squad into greatness?
 
orly said:
Apologies for the slightly awkward title.

As a healthy debate continues in the Baines thread about this status as an "Everton Great" - or in the very highest pantheon of Everton players - I wondered if it was worth asking the straightforward question; can any past or present player be considered an Everton Great without winning a trophy of some kind?

For me, there are enough exceptions for it to be completely acceptable. But I think we wouldn't stretch this to managers. Obviously a player that wins a trophy with us does not become a de facto Great either.

It's of course slightly complicated by the fact that most of the "Greats" did of course win titles with us of some kind.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
It's indeed a tricky question. Yeah, I think you have to win something. Obviously people have their favourites, my favourites just all happened to win something.
 

orly said:
Absolutely - the three examples I was going to use. All three won titles, and would feature heavily in most if not all lists of top 5 Everton greats.

Is Latchford the only real exception?

Would a trophy push any of the current squad into greatness?
Click to expand...

I think Baines would be put in this category if we win a trophy with him. The only thing that I question is how active a "current squad" member but also a veteran Blue would have to be in the squad from that particular season that we do win a trophy. Would be a shame if a player like Baines with so much tenure became too old to play regularly, then we win a trophy.
 
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