On 10th March 1964, Fred Pickering joined Everton from Blackburn for £85,000. At the time of the transfer, it was both a record fee for Everton and for a transfer between two English clubs, eclipsing the £60,000 Everton spent on Tony Kay from Sheffield Wednesday in December 1962. However, Pickering was not short of interest. At the start of 1964, it was reported that Leeds made a joint £120,000 bid for Pickering and Mike England, and just before the transfer, he was linked with a move to Tottenham, Manchester United, Sunderland and Wolves. But he decided to go to Everton.
In the events leading up to the transfer, Harry Catterick had his eye on Pickering for a couple of seasons and watched him score twice in Blackburn’s 5-0 win at Bolton on 29th February 1964. Two days later, Pickering submitted a transfer request. It all appeared a little bit too coincidental, but Catterick coyly repudiated any claims that Everton were interested in signing the full-back-turned-centre-forward.
We have not been in contact with Blackburn Rovers, nor have me made any approach for their player, Fred Pickering. Because I attended the Bolton v Blackburn match on Saturday, I’m automatically said to be about to sign Pickering! I shall be at the Burnley v West Ham match tonight [March 3rd]. It might be said with equal truth tomorrow that I am about to sign Johnny Byrne from West Ham. Tomorrow, I’m hoping to be at the Stoke v Chelsea game. It would be as absurd to say I’m after [John] Ritchie, the Stoke centre-forward, or Bobby Tambling of Chelsea.
Pickering’s transfer request was approved by Blackburn but at a cost of a £25 fine for going public with wanting a move away from Ewood Park. On March 9th, Everton submitted a bid for the striker after Harry Catterick had a meeting with Blackburn manager Jack Marshall, and Pickering left training with the England squad to sign on the dotted line the next day. The Liverpool Echo reported that Catterick became really interested in Pickering since he scored a hat-trick against Everton at Goodison Park in the Blues’ ill-tempered 4-2 defeat to Blackburn the previous November.
After signing for the Blues, Fred Pickering said:
Everton are the club I wanted to join. It could not have been better.
A couple of months later, he went into further detail during a series of weekly interviews with the Liverpool Echo:
The reason I asked Blackburn for a transfer was that I had reached the stage in my career when it was necessary to decide whether I would feel content to carry on along the same course, or if it might not be better to set my sights higher.
My decision was to gamble – for that is what it really is – and aim for the top – that is top wages and a chance to play in the major European football competitions.
Pickering made his Everton debut against Nottingham Forest on March 14th. Although, it almost didn’t happen. The Football League was contemplating whether to accept or refuse the registration of Pickering, depending on any possible breaches of regulations. But thankfully for Everton and Pickering, the Football League approved the transfer the day before the Nottingham Forest game, meaning he was eligible.
Fred Pickering replaced Alex Young in the starting line-up and started his Everton career the best way possible. After missing some good chances early in the game, he scored his first goal in an Everton shirt after just 7 minutes. Pickering capitalised on an attempted headed clearance by Peter Hindley and volleyed the ball into the back of the net from 10 yards. He scored his second 25 minutes later after hammering a shot from 25 yards out, leaving goalkeeper Peter Grummitt little chance of stopping it. He completed his hat-trick 10 minutes before full-time. He picked up on a long pass by Dennis Stevens and eased past a tackle by Bob McKinlay before passing to Alex Scott. Scott passed the ball back to Pickering, eased past another tackle and converted from 12 yards.
Fred Pickering became the second of only three players to score a hat-trick on his Everton debut – between Frank Oliver in 1905 and Tony Cottee in 1988. His back-to-back Goodison hat-tricks also made him the first (and only) player to score a hat-trick for and against Everton in a single season.
His next game was against his former team Blackburn, just 11 days after he left them for the Blues. Pickering returned to Ewood Park with a chorus of boos. The hostile atmosphere didn’t appear to help him as he nearly gifted Blackburn a goal after a poor pass, but thankfully Andy Rankin spared his blushes. He had a couple of chances himself but could not add to his tally.
He had another blank in his next game against West Brom, which prompted a selection of fans calling for the return of Alex Young, chanting, “We want Young! We want Young!” Replacing a player like Alex Young was always going to be a pressuring task for Fred Pickering but he managed to cope. He then scored 6 goals in 6 games to make it 9 in 9 for Everton.
His club form earned him a call-up and his first cap for England against USA in May. Like for Everton, he kickstarted his England career with a hat-trick. He then made two more appearances for the Three Lions the same year, scoring in both games. However, he had never played for England since.
As Fred Pickering was preparing for his first full season as an Everton player, he and his wife decided to move away from Blackburn to a bungalow in Aughton. But before they moved in, the bungalow was vandalised by Liverpool fans. The vandals painted Liverpool slogans all across the walls. But Pickering was unfazed as in his first full season at Everton, he scored 37 goals in all competitions – the most by an Everton player since Tommy Lawton scored 38 in 1938/39. 27 of those goals came in the First Division – the most top-flight goals in a single season by an Everton player since Lawton again in 1938/39 (31 goals).
In spite of Everton’s mixed start to the 1964/65 season (they won each of their first 3 games, but were winless in their next 5), Pickering scored 7 goals in 8 games and made it 8 in 9 in his first Merseyside Derby when he scored in Everton’s 4-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield. By the middle of November, he scored 14 goals in all competitions, and his goalscoring form showed no signs of fizzling out. He then scored 18 goals in 20 games, as well as becoming a father for the first time just before Christmas. During that 20-game run, he didn’t go through two consecutive games without scoring and scored in 8 consecutive Goodison games, as well as 7-game goalscoring streak home and away. Despite his goalscoring exploits, Everton could only finish 4th in the First Division, suffered an early exit from the FA Cup and only reached the third round of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
In the 1965/66 season, Fred Pickering scored 22 goals in all competitions, including 4 valuable goals in the FA Cup. He scored in each of the first 3 rounds against Sunderland, Bedford and Coventry (as well as Derek Temple). He also became the first Everton player to be substituted off after he was replaced by John Hurst against Stoke in August. However, then came the beginning of the end of his Everton career.
During a 0-0 draw against Liverpool in March 1966, Pickering was carried off on a stretcher.
After 25 minutes, Everton suffered a blow when Pickering was carried off on a stretcher, obviously in pain. No-one touched him and he seemed to twist and tear his right knee as he moved to collect a low through ball from Labone.
He lay in agony as play continued and even West did not seem to appreciate what had happened because instead of putting the ball out of play, he threw it downfield.
Liverpool Echo
Despite the injury, Pickering made excellent progress and Harry Catterick hoped he would have been fine for the FA Cup quarter-final match against Manchester City, but he could not recover in time and missed the 0-0 draw. Pickering missed the replay as well (also 0-0), but it was third time lucky for Pickering as he made his comeback in the second replay, scoring in a 2-0 win and earning a place in the semi-finals against Manchester United. But another injury meant another cup game missed.
In Everton’s 3-1 defeat to Sheffield United, Pickering was carried off on a stretcher again at the start of the second half with this leg becoming an issue once more. However, 9 minutes later, Pickering returned to the pitch with strapping on his right knee and played 10 minutes on the left wing before being forced off again. He missed the next three games, including the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United after he failed a fitness test. However, he still had a chance of winning some silverware as Everton beat the Red Devils 1-0 thanks to a goal from Colin Harvey. Despite missing out, he still celebrated with his teammates.
Pickering returned to the first-team for the league game against Manchester United two days after the semi-final and played the remaining two league games thereafter. Despite playing in three consecutive games, Pickering suffered some heartbreak as Harry Catterick dropped him from the FA Cup final against Sheffield Wednesday the day before the game as he didn’t believe Pickering was fit enough to play. Sir John Moores tried to console him during a round of golf but to no avail.
Fred Pickering said he wasn’t happy with how he was treated and wanted to talk to Catterick after the final to discuss his future.
I don’t want to do anything hasty which might upset the boys in the team, but I feel I have been unfairly treated. I have told Mr Catterick I haven’t been given a chance to show whether I was in form or not after my knee injury. With the cup final coming up, the lads didn’t bother too much about creating opportunities in league games. What happens after the final will obviously affect my future.
Everton won the FA Cup by beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 in spite of being 2-0 down with Pickering’s replacement Cornish forward Mike Trebilcock becoming the unlikely hero by scoring twice. Three days after the final, Pickering didn’t attend a banquet held by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool to celebrate Everton’s FA Cup victory and Liverpool’s league title. He said it was because he couldn’t find a babysitter for his children so he decided to look after them instead, adding the decision was already made before his omission from the FA Cup final. Whether it was true or not, there’s no denying that he was very hurt from missing the biggest game of his career, and his relationship with Harry Catterick turned sour.
In July 1966, Pickering submitted a transfer request, saying that during the couple of months since he wanted to talk to Harry Catterick about his future, they never spoke about it once. Despite that, he still trained with the squad. The request was subsequently rejected six weeks after it was submitted, with Catterick saying:
I have told Pickering that we cannot see our way to release him at the present time. Pickering stays with Everton.
Pickering missed the Charity Shield defeat to Liverpool but he returned for the first league game of the 1966/67 season against Fulham. However, his injury woes continued. He was subbed off injured in Everton’s 3-1 win over Liverpool in August – another Merseyside Derby ending with an injury. He returned for a match against West Brom three weeks after the Derby but he was subbed off injured again after falling awkwardly. A couple of days after the West Brom game, he had a cartilage operation and didn’t play another game for the first-team for nearly 6 months. He made his comeback against Leicester in March 1967, playing the entire 90 minutes, even though he was still receiving treatment the day before the game.
He made another appearance against Tottenham on Easter Monday and then played back-to-back games for the first time since the start of the season against Aston Villa and Burnley in May, scoring twice against the Villains. However, they were his last appearances and goals as an Everton player.
Although it looked like he was going to return to Blackburn, Birmingham swooped in and signed Fred Pickering from Everton on 18th August 1967 for a fee of £40,000.
After injury problems brought Fred Pickering’s Everton career to a premature end, he played for Blackpool after Birmingham before returning to Blackburn. He then had a trial at Brighton before putting an end to his football career in 1972 at the age of 31.
Fred Pickering was only 26 when he left Everton. If it wasn’t for his injuries, he could have played for the club for a few more seasons and very few Everton fans would have heard of Mike Trebilcock. But a goalscoring record of 70 goals in 115 games certainly isn’t something to dismiss. Pickering will always be lauded as one of Everton’s greatest number 9s.