Editing Everton F.C. (section)

== Records and statistics ==
{{further|List of Everton F.C. records and statistics}}
[[File:Neville Southall.jpg|thumb|Goalkeeper [[Neville Southall]] made a record 751 first-team appearances for Everton between 1981 and 1997]]
[[Neville Southall]] holds the record for the most Everton appearances with 751 first-team matches between 1981 and 1997. The late centre half and former captain [[Brian Labone]] comes in second with 534 matches. The longest serving player is goalkeeper [[Ted Sagar]], who played for 23 years between 1929 and 1953. This tenure covered both sides of the [[Second World War]] and included a total of 495 appearances. Southall also previously held the record for the most league clean sheets during a season with 15. However, this record was beaten during the [[2008–09 Premier League|2008–09 season]] by American goalkeeper [[Tim Howard]], who ended the season with 17 clean sheets.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/howard-ends-long-search-for-real-no-1-1682619.html |title=Howard ends long search for real No 1 |first=Jon |last=Culley |publisher=Independent News and Media Limited |work=The Independent |date=11 May 2009 |access-date=13 May 2009 |location=London |archive-date=3 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203045515/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/howard-ends-long-search-for-real-no-1-1682619.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The club's top goalscorer, with 383 goals in all competitions, is [[Dixie Dean]]; the second-highest goalscorer is [[Graeme Sharp]] with 159. Dean still holds the [[English football records|English national record]] of most goals in a season with 60.<ref name=records>{{cite web|url=http://www.soccerbase.com/team_records.sd?teamid=942|title=Everton F.C. records|access-date=16 November 2007|publisher=Soccerbase|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221111720/http://www.soccerbase.com/team_records.sd?teamid=942|archive-date=21 December 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>[[File:Everton seasons 1955-2011.png|thumb|Finishing positions in the top flight between 1955 and 2011|left]]

The record attendance for an Everton home match is 78,299 against Liverpool on 18 September 1948. Remarkably, there was only one injury at this game, which occurred when Tom Fleetwood was hit on the head by a coin thrown from the crowd whilst he marched around the perimeter and played the [[cornet]] with St Edward's Orphanage Band. Goodison Park, like all major English football grounds since the recommendations of the [[Taylor Report]] were implemented, is now an all-seater and only holds just under 40,000, meaning it is unlikely that this attendance record will ever be broken at Goodison.<ref name="records" /> Everton's record transfer paid was to Swansea City for the [[Iceland]]ic midfielder [[Gylfi Sigurðsson]] for a sum of £45m in 2017.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40848343|title=Gylfi Sigurdsson: Everton sign Swansea midfielder for £45m|date=16 August 2017|work=BBC Sport|access-date=25 October 2017|archive-date=5 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905180539/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40848343|url-status=live}}</ref> The sale of [[Romelu Lukaku]] to [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] the same year was for an initial sum of £75m, the largest sum Everton has received for a player and then the largest transfer between two English clubs.<ref>{{cite news |title=Romelu Lukaku: Man Utd sign Everton striker for initial £75m on five-year deal |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40550934 |access-date=7 October 2023 |work=BBC Sport |date=10 July 2017}}</ref>

Everton hold the record for the most seasons in England's top tier (Division One/Premier League), with 122 seasons out of 126, as of completion of the 2024–25 season (the club played in Division 2 in 1930–31 and from 1951 to 1954). They are one of six teams to have played in every season of the Premier League since its inception in August 1992&nbsp;– the others being [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]], [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]], [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]], Manchester United, and [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]]. Everton against Aston Villa is the most played fixture in England's top flight. As of the 2024–25 season, the two founding members of the Football League have played a record 214 league games.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.evertonresults.com/avillasumm.htm|title=Everton Results|website=Evertonresults.com|access-date=7 January 2023|archive-date=22 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322002301/http://www.evertonresults.com/avillasumm.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>