The Man Who Could Walk On Water: Latchford 45 Years On

This year marks the 45th anniversary of Everton legend Bob Latchford scoring 30 league goals in a truly memorable campaign. At the start of the 1977/78 season, a national newspaper offered £10,000 to the first player to hit the 30 target, as it hadn’t been done for a number of years. It went to the last game, but Latchford slammed home a late penalty against Chelsea at Goodison Park to claim the prize. In this latest Official Everton Podcast, we look back at the career of the striker who Evertonians regularly claimed could ‘walk on water’. Hosted by Darren Griffiths, alongside Dave Prentice and Gavin Buckland, we look back at Latchford’s career, with audio contributions from teammates Jim Pearson and Martin Dobson. The conversation is decorated by commentary from some of Latchford’s most memorable goals. We hear about how he was linked with Everton during the reign of Harry Catterick and of how Bill Shankly tried to persuade Latchford to join Liverpool. And did you know that Howard Kendall considered re-signing him when he was also after Andy Gray in 1983? We also discuss why a striker with such a fantastic goalscoring record was only rewarded with 12 international caps and we wonder whether the outcome of that infamous 1977 FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool would have been different had Latchford played. After that memorable season when he plundered 30 league goals, Latchford only managed 23 over the entire course of the next three campaigns. We ask why? Bob Latchford’s place in any Everton Hall of Fame has long been assured and Blues of any generation will enjoy listening to this special tribute podcast.