The flagging up that Manchester City phenomenon Erling Haaland has scored more goals than Dixie Dean at the equivalent stage of his record-breaking 1927/28 season has at least reminded the wider world that Everton possess one of the most-storied heritages in football and that there were great players before the creation of the Premier League.
Just eight games into his Premier League career, Haaland’s hat-trick in City’s 6-3 Manchester derby thrashing of neighbours United took his total so far this term to 14 goals – double the tally of his nearest challenger for the Golden Boot, Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur.
Dean, who as every Evertonian surely knows, netted 60 goals in 1927/28, was on a ‘mere’ 12 some eight matches into that campaign, although it is worth noting that he then plundered five goals against Manchester United in his ninth game.
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The Everton legend’s granddaughter Melanie Prentice acknowledged Haaland’s incredible start this week on social media with a Tweet that included the line: “Refreshing to see Dixie Dean’s record actually being recognised and spoken about” but as Everton’s official statistician and regular guest on the ECHO’s Royal Blue podcast, Gavin Buckland, replied: “Refreshing yes but the Premier League are only interested in all-time records if there’s a chance of them being broken. Ignored otherwise. All part of the hype and hypocritical for me.”
There does seem to be a particular disparaging arrogance from plenty of contemporary observers who are all too quick to dismiss the herculean achievements of the likes of Dean from the ‘black and white era’ as almost irrelevant myths from ancient history or an assumption that back then, professional football was just a couple of notches up from a schoolyard kick-about.
But in truth, such assumptions are badly wide of the mark and mostly based on sheer ignorance. The first stick usually brought out to hit Dean with is the idea that it was easier to score goals back then but some serious context is required when examining this claim.
There is no denying that the likes of Dean – and Middlesbrough’s George Camsell, whose 59-goal record (set in the Second Division the previous season) he was chasing - were making hay while the sun shined in terms of benefitting from a relaxation of the offside law in 1925 that reduced the number of opponents that attackers needed between themselves and the goal-line from three to two.
The change prompted the play in matches to become more stretched with an increase in goals from 4,700 in the 1924/25 season to 6,373 in 1925, both in 1848 Football League games, but the cannier managers immediately set about counteracting what was considered one of football’s most significant rule changes of the 20th century by moving back the centre-half – which had been a midfield position within the traditional 2-3-5 formation – to the heart of defence and between the full-backs.
Indeed, one of the first English bosses to implement the switch to the ‘WM’ formation (if you joined the dots between the players’ positions with a couple of deeper-lying inside forwards, it resembled the two letters) was Herbert Chapman, who was in charge of Arsenal, the team who Dean famously netted his hat-trick against on the final day of the 1927/28 season to break the record. Chapman’s rearguard action in essence created the archetypal Arsenal centre-half such as Tony Adams, who is now using that outstretched arm so used to appealing for offside decisions during his playing career in the ballroom on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
More goals were being scored in total back then than now, there’s no denying that. In 462 Division One matches in 1927/28 there were 1,702 goals scored which is an average of 3.68 goals per game. So far in the Premier League this term there have been 234 goals scored in 77 matches, an average of 3.04 per game - but which teams are actually scoring them?
Manchester City’s expensively-assembled team of superstars have netted 29 goals in their opening eight matches – that’s actually eight more than Dean’s Everton team that would go on to be crowned champions in 1927/28 had bagged after their first eight games. Pep Guardiola’s side themselves are actually averaging 3.63 goals per game whereas, over the entire 1927/28 season, Everton struck 102 goals in 42 matches, an average of 2.43 per game so while Haaland is ahead of Dean at this stage, it should be noted he’s playing in a team that are actually finding the net on a more regular basis than even the Blues' title-winners were almost a century ago.
Comparing the achievements of players from different eras is also fraught with many other contributing factors. Stricter interpretations of the laws ensure that attacking players are now able to flourish much more freely without the kind of often brutal physical treatment from defenders that was commonplace in Dean’s era. Indeed, the Everton legend infamously had to have a testicle removed after being stamped on by an opponent when still a teenager.
Irrespective of when he is playing, if Haaland (who already has 19 goals for City in all competitions after Wednesday night's brace in a 5-0 Champions League thrashing of FC Copenhagen) was to go on to break Dean’s record, or indeed get anywhere close to it, he would deserve all the plaudits that might come his way - the fact it has remained intact for almost 95 years demonstrates what a feat it really was.
Lionel Messi, considered by many now to be the most-gifted footballer to ever play the game, once netted 50 goals in 37 matches in a single La Liga season for Barcelona in 2011/12, but nobody has ever reached the half-century mark either before or since Dean in the English top flight.
The great Jimmy Greaves (357) would go on to eclipse Dean’s total number of top flight goals (310) and given that Haaland is only 22 (Dean turned 21 in the January of his record-breaking season), he has enough time on his hands to target that record if he remains in the Premier League for the bulk of his career. But the most anyone has ever netted in a Premier League season is 34, a total reached by both Newcastle United’s Andy Cole and Alan Shearer of Blackburn Rovers in 1993/94 and 1994/95 respectively when the English top flight – like in Dean’s day – still consisted of a 42-game campaign for clubs. The most anyone has ever netted in a 38-game Premier League season is 32 by Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in 2017/18.
Nobody has ever got within fewer than 11 goals of Dean’s record-breaking haul in a single season, and the man who ran him closest was a fellow Merseysider from his own home town. Tom ‘Pongo’ Waring – who, like Dean, started his career with Tranmere Rovers - bagged 49 goals for Aston Villa in 1930/31, so Norwegian international Haaland – who was born in Leeds, with his father Alfie playing for the Yorkshire club at the time – is also potentially in the running to become the most-prolific marksman not from Birkenhead!
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