Everton are one of the bigger clubs in Premier League history. They might have had a fall from grace in recent history, but their record of being one of the clubs to never get relegated from the top-flight still stands strong.
And when the question arises as to why Everton are called Toffees, the answer is yes, it is related to candy. The Toffees are the fourth most successful club in England with nine league titles in their trophy cabinet. With so much rich history behind their legacy, fans wonder how did this nickname come into existence.
There are a couple of reasons, but one of the primary ones is the popular toffee shop that is located in Everton Lane and is named after the legend Mother Noblett. The shop is on the away end of Goodison Park which is the castle displayed on the Everton badge. FootTheBall have a look as to why the nickname Toffees came into the picture.
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Why Toffees?
Everton FC have had various nicknames over the years ever since they’ve been established in 1888. But their nickname – The Toffees – has been a traditional one and something that isn’t going to change very soon. It all began in the early days of the club because of the relationship with local toffee shops.
Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House is situated in the Queen’s Head Hotel in Everton Street where most of the Toffees early days were seen as a football club. This Hotel was the headquarters of the original Toffee Lady who then later invented Everton Toffees. These toffees were sold to the thousands of fans that travelled from far away to watch the Everton games on matchdays.
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Mother Nobletts Toffee Shop similar to the above location is located near Goodison Park and came into the picture mostly after Eveton’s shift from Anfield to the new home ground. A huge decision was made by Mother Noblett back then, bringing the idea of patenting her toffees ahead of her toffee rival for ‘Everton Mints’
It was a huge success with the Everton crowd, and on the other hand, the Ya Anciente toffee shop rapidly declined after Noblett’s patent. Although this is where things changed and the Toffees were shared inside the ground among the crowd after Old Ma Bushell – Mother Noblett’s toffee rival- took permission from the leaders of the club.
Later, after a few years down the line, Old Ma Busheel’s young granddaughter Jemima Bushell was given the role of her grandmother. She was given permission to dress in a way that symbolized those toffees with a basket that had wrapped with Everton Toffees.
With this a tradition was born which is continued to this day. A pre-match event at Goodison Park where an Everton Toffee Lady distributes candy inside the stadium. A different teenage lady is selected for each home game to perform this honoured task. The modern-day Toffee Lady mascot is given the task of wearing something blue and white where she throws sweets in the crowd – and is now a home game tradition.
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