ABSTRACT

This chapter presents the origins of Everton Football Club in relation to the community which gave rise to and nurtured its early development. It highlights a complexity of influences on Everton's development from within the ranks of the club's membership – a complexity that led, ultimately, to an irresolvable contradiction that split the original club. The chapter provides a comparative study of the organizational structure of two clubs, Everton FC and Liverpool FC, that were formed as limited liability companies in the wake of the split of 1892. The split of 1892 created in its wake two organizations – Everton Football Club Company Limited and Liverpool Football Club and Athletic Grounds Company Limited – that were distinct in their structures. Ownership of Liverpool became more widely dispersed amongst the expanded number of shareholders in the club, and the drink trade's obvious presence among those in control of the club in a previous period disappeared.