In Memoriam: Everton League winner Jimmy Husband passes away.

Jimmy Husband, a teammate of Everton icon John Hurst, died this weekend, less than two months after his tragic demise. The 76-year-old humble Geordie had his best years in Everton’s blue, and he was a popular player among fans who watched football in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I was one of them.

Husband played 165 games for Everton from 1965 to 1973, scoring 44 goals, albeit his early appearances were limited due to the status of players ahead of him. His best years were unquestionably 1968 to 1970. In 1970, he won the old First Division championship and reached the FA Cup Final.

His rise to the first team began at the youthful age of 18, but subsequently stopped as football and its formations experienced significant tactical changes. His debut in 1965 as an old-fashioned inside forward, namely inside right, before the makeover of English football implemented by former England manager Sir Alf Ramsey. His England squad, dubbed as “The Wingless Wonders,” went on to win the World Cup the year after Husband’s debut, and conventional wingers were gradually phased out of many teams beginning in 1966. Top teams like Manchester United and Liverpool continued to utilise wingers for a few years, but Everton were an innovative club in the 1960s and swiftly embraced what

For those unfamiliar with the word, the lost position of “inside right” referred to players who, as the name implies, played just inside of the outer right or “right winger,” a term that is still used today.

His sluggish start in Everton’s first squad was attributed to the irreplaceable Alex Young, also known as “The Golden Vision,” who had played as a centre striker in the winning teams of the early to mid 1960s but had been pushed wide to allow the much stronger Joe Royle. Young was so beloved by the Goodison faithful that a TV documentary by acclaimed writer Ken Loach was screened on British television. That was unusual for the time. Young was becoming older in 1967, and increasingly

Husband wore #7, yet he was far from a typical winger. The game has moved on and didn’t require that anymore. The Blues had Tommy Wright as a marauding right back, much like today’s offensive full back, and Husband would technically play right while the Toffees were out of possession, but as soon as we had the ball, he cut inside. He’d be located either behind or alongside centre forward Royle. Nowadays, it’s referred to as a “second striker” or “attacking midfielder.” He played such role frequently because Everton had a lot of ball possession between 1968 and 1970!