This is the story of Everton striker, Bob Latchford’s bid to win £10,000 from the Daily Express as the first man to score 30 goals during the 1977-78 season. The first half of the season saw him score 19 goals. He had a maximum of 18 matches to score the 11 goals necessary to win the award. We pick up the story at the beginning of 1978.
1978
Two days after the Arsenal win Everton were in a huge game at the City Ground as second-placed Toffees met table-topping Nottingham Forest. The game ended 1-1 with both goals coming from spot-kicks. John Robertson scored first for the home side and Trevor Ross levelled for Everton.
Next up was a double-header at Goodison against Aston Villa. The two had played out a tightly fought League Cup Final the previous season which Villa won with a last-minute goal in extra time in a second replay.
Latchford scored the fourth in a 4-1 win in the FA Cup Third Round. It was the only goal he scored during January as King scored in the league when they beat Villa again, and Ross was again successful from the spot in a defeat at Wolves.
Everton were one of three sides level on 34 points. Manchester City and Liverpool the other two with Arsenal just one behind. Forest were still top, now with a six-point lead, which during a time when there were two points for a win, was quite an advantage.
The month ended with them getting knocked out of the FA Cup up at Middlesbrough. They’d also been dumped out of the League Cup between the Villa and Wolves matches.
February
After a dry January, Latch found his scoring touch in the first game of February. He scored in each half at home to Leicester City. Leicester were in a perilous position with just two wins all season and had failed to score in 17 of their 26 matches. A 2-0 win for Everton took that total to 18 in 27.
Latchford was now on 21 goals with 15 games to go. His tally at Goodison was now 15 goals in 14 matches and scored in seven of his last eight appearances there.
West Ham visited next. Everton won again but Latchford picked up a knock and was replaced by George Telfer. This caused him to miss the next two matches. Was time running out?
Without their top scorer, Everton failed to win either game. They went to Maine Road to meet Manchester City, a point behind them in third. Brian Kidd scored the only goal of the game. A year later he became an Evertonian.
Back home they met QPR who were in the bottom three at the time. Trailing 1-2 at half-time they came back to draw 3-3. More points dropped and they badly needed their top striker back.
Other teams were dropping points too so Everton were still in the top three, level on points with Man City in second and a point ahead of Arsenal.
March
Latchford was fit enough to return to the first team for the trips to Bristol City and Norwich City. He couldn’t find the net in either match as a Ross goal won it at Bristol and at Norwich the game was goalless.
For Latchford, he now had a maximum of 10 matches to score the nine goals for his prize. He’d only scored in one of the previous seven matches he’d played in. He hadn’t scored away from home since Chelsea on 3 December, seven matches.
The Easter period arrived. Always a busy one with three matches in four days for most sides.
First up for Everton was a trip to Newcastle United on Good Friday. The Magpies were stuck in the relegation zone, as they had been all season, five points adrift.
In the first half, Latchford finally broke his duck with the opening goal. It was also a goal away from home. MacKenzie made the win certain in the second half as they won comfortably. The game was marred by crowd violence which stopped the game for a period.
For Newcastle, Easter time couldn’t have been tougher with Forest waiting for them a day later. Latchford and MacKenzie were again on target 24 hours later in a 2-0 win over Leeds United.
Seven goals needed from eight matches, assuming he could stay fit.
Easter Monday saw them travel to Old Trafford. United weren’t in a much better position than when the two sides met on Boxing Day. United had won an incredible game 6-2. This time Everton were ready for them.
10 minutes before the break Latchford put Everton in front. On the hour he doubled his tally. Hill scored from the spot for the home side but Everton won fairly comfortably.
Latchford now needed five goals. All the nerves going into Easter were now settled thanks to four goals in three matches over four days.
Everton were now just a point behind Forest but had played three matches more. Crucially they were four points clear of Arsenal in third and they’d played the same number of matches.
April
Into the final month of the league season and these were heady days on Merseyside. Back in 1975, Everton had come within a whisker of the title. They won the first of the decade but the flood of trophies hadn’t followed. Could things be about to change?
The club which pipped them in 1975 was Derby County. Now managed by former Man Utd boss, Tommy Docherty, they turned up at Goodison floundering in mid-table.
Dobson opened things for Everton, only for Charlie George to level. Latchford then scored before half-time and that’s how it ended with a 2-1 win.
Four goals now needed from seven.
In 2018, he told The Daily Mail the burst of five goals in four matches gave everyone a boost;
“It re-affirmed in my mind that I could do it and the boys in the dressing room began to chat about it.”
Next was the Merseyside derby at home. Liverpool were back in fifth but had three games in hand on their opponents. Upfront for the Reds that day was David Johnson. He’d been snapped up by Everton when he was a teenager. He’d endeared himself to Evertonians with a goal in the derby game in 1971. Since then he’d moved to Ipswich before Bob Paisley bought him back to Merseyside.
In only his sixth start of the season, he scored the only goal of the game, again at the Gwladys Street. Latchford failed to score. All through his career at Everton he never scored in a derby.
The defeat was hard to take. Not just because it was Liverpool, but Forest won by a solitary goal at Villa to restore their four-point lead. Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool were all closing in too.
At the weekend they travelled to Coventry City. The Sky Blues were having one of their best seasons, lying in sixth.
Alan Green put the home side in front, only for Lyons to equalise. The Everton skipper always chipped in with useful goals and this was his fifth of the campaign.
Garry Thompson restored the home side’s lead before the break. In the second half, Latchford got his goal. It was number 27 and the 30-goal total was getting closer and closer.
A second successive defeat was a huge blow. They were still four points behind Forest having played four more matches. Arsenal and Liverpool were only four points behind them with games in hand.
Forest then dropped a point at Man City and Arsenal lost at QPR.
Ipswich arrived for the penultimate home match of the season. They’d never experienced a victory at Goodison Park in their history. A successful cup run meant they were having to squeeze in matches before the end of the season too. Everton hoped they were tired.
The long season was taking its toll on the home side too. Terry Darracott was injured and Neil Robinson came in for his first game of the season.
There were some nerves around as the game moved into the final third still goalless. Then Everton were awarded a penalty. Latchford had now been handed the responsibility of taking the spot-kicks and he made no mistake. It was his first penalty kick as a professional.
Goal number 28. Three games to go.
Both Forest and Liverpool were held to 1-1 draws but Arsenal won. This was proving to be an exciting finish.
By way of a distraction from the subject everyone was talking about, Brazil arrived at Wembley for a friendly with England. Latchford was back in the starting line-up, having sat out the trip to West Germany in February. He didn’t score but picked up his first yellow card of his international career.
In the same week, Forest won at home to QPR and Liverpool were held by Ipswich. Forest now leads by six points from Everton with two games in hand.
Everton’s next game was up at Middlesbrough, the team which had put them out of the FA Cup. The two had also met in the League Cup with Everton prevailing in a replay.
Billy Wright made his debut for Everton just six days before his 20th birthday, as injuries were now a constant frustration for the squad. Latchford only needed two goals to hit his target but this was a boring 0-0 draw so there were just two matches to go.
The title was out of the question now. They could match Forest’s points total but had to claw back a huge goal deficit of 16.
The penultimate game of the season for the Toffees was at the Hawthorns against West Brom. This was Ron Atkinson’s legendary Baggies side including Regis, Cunningham, Robson, Statham and Batson.
But it was a young 20-year-old making his first start who took the headlines. Wayne Hughes came on as a sub against Middlesbrough back in September and had made one other sub appearance. This was his first start and in the first half, he scored. Regis had already given the Baggies the lead and Hughes doubled it.
Regis scored again in the second half and although Telfer got one back, it was a disappointing defeat for Everton. Latchford had failed to score too, so all the pressure was on the final game of the season.
Forest picked up the necessary point at Coventry to give Brian Clough and Peter Taylor a remarkable league title the season immediately after promotion. They did it with four games to spare too.
With Liverpool beating Arsenal they were now just a point behind their neighbours, with two games in hand.
Saturday 29 April 1978 and just under 40,000 packed into Goodison Park to see if Latchford could score the two goals he needed to reach the magic 30 figure. Of course, there were nerves. He’d not scored in the previous two matches and just two goals in his last four.
Chelsea were the visitors. It was nine years since they’d won at Goodison, back in 1969, but they badly needed the points to avoid relegation.
Dobson opened the scoring inside the first 10 minutes and Wright scored his first goal for the club as they led at the break. 10 minutes into the second half and another rare scorer, Neil Robinson, made it 3-0.
The crowd had to wait till the 72nd minute before they got what they came for, a Latchford goal. Fittingly it was a Thomas corner headed in by Latchford giving him 29 for the season. 18 minutes to go.
“I knew then the other would come”
Another corner for Thomas to curl in. Latchford was poised but Lyons nipped in to score instead. The fifth of the game and his fifth of the season. Latch told his captain to go back into defence and stay there. 15 minutes to go.
The clock continued to click away, then finally a chance. Lyons, completely ignoring his striker, was back up in the Chelsea box and made the most of a Micky Droy challenge. He went down and referee Peter Willis pointed to the spot. The Evertonians behind the Gwladys Street goal went nuts.
Of course, there was only one person to take it, Big Bob.
He fired the ball past Peter Bonetti and, as the cliché goes, “the crowd went wild”. Fans invaded the pitch and Latchford was carried on their shoulders.
Latchford told The Daily Mail how it was meant to be;
“It was the 78th minute in 1978 and it was Everton’s centenary year – formed in 1878.
The stars were aligned and to top it all, the great man, Dixie Dean, was there, 50 years after his 60 goals.”
He’d done it with just minutes of the season to spare. The Daily Express paid out their £10,000 prize.
To give you an idea of what that was worth back in 1978, the average house cost £16,000. Latchford split the sum with his teammates and after having to pay tax on it, he probably lost on the deal.
But whenever people mention the name Latchford this moment is still one of the first things they say. That’s quite an achievement.
As if to crown a memorable season for Bob, he finally found the net in an England shirt two weeks after the Chelsea match. In the Home International Championships, against Wales at Ninian Park, he headed in at the near post after just eight minutes.
Latchford’s stats
30 goals in 39 appearances. 20 at Goodison Park in 19 matches, although he only scored in 13 of those games. He scored two hat-tricks, four v QPR in October 1977 and three v Coventry City in November 1977. He scored more than one goal in a game eight times.
Latchford’s legacy
People still talk about Bob’s 30 goals. After WWII the total was beaten many times, but in the 10 years before 1978, only one player had managed it. The whole story captured the public’s imagination. Gary Lineker matched Bob’s tally for Everton in 1985-86, with Ian Rush (32) and Clive Allen (33) exceeding it in 1983-84 and 1986-87 respectively.
But people of my generation, and Everton fans, will always point to the man who walked on water – Bob Latchford in 1977-78.
