Name: Brian Leslie Labone
Nickname: "Labby"; "The last of the Corinthians"; "Mr. Everton"



Country: England
Club: Everton F.C.
Number: 5
Position: *CB
Side: RF/BS
Age: 26-30 years (23/01/1940)

Height: 185 cm
Weight: 85 kg

Attack: 57
Defence: 88
Balance: 89
Stamina: 79
Top Speed: 77
Acceleration: 74
Response: 85
Agility: 72
Dribble Accuracy: 70
Dribble Speed: 72
Short Pass Accuracy: 73
Short Pass Speed: 72
Long Pass Accuracy: 72
Long Pass Speed: 76
Shot Accuracy: 62
Shot Power: 81
Shot Technique: 61
Free Kick Accuracy: 59
Curling: 63
Header: 86
Jump: 85
Technique: 70
Aggression: 62
Mentality: 84
Goalkeeper Skills: 50
Team Work: 75

Injury Tolerance: A
Condition/Fitness: 6
Weak Foot Accuracy: 3
Weak Foot Frequency: 3
Consistency: 7
Growth type: Standard

CARDS:
S07 - Man Marking
S08 - Slide Tackle
S10 - DF Leader

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Marking - Sliding - D-Line Control

Attack/Defence Awareness Card: Defence-Minded


INFO:
Labone was widely regarded as one of the best central defenders of his era. An old-fashioned centre-half, he was a strong tackler, good in the air, adequately fast (with a relatively slow acceleration) but he rarely used his left foot. He was full of confidence in the game, and his disarming interventions sometimes took fans' breath away. Moreover, they almost never resulted in a foul, let alone injured someone. His elegance in taking balls in the middle of the field was unbelievable, considering that his contemporaries in the English league did not usually go far for ugly slides. Labby, as he was often nicknamed by the Evertonians, was also adorned with considerable in-game insight, his indomitable devotion and stamina. Gentleman and leader of the team, his height at the centre of defence shored up the back line for many years and he was unlikely to be seen wandering forward like many of his contemporaries. Indeed he scored just twice in his time at Everton. Played for and captained Everton. A one-club man, Labone's professional career lasted from 1958 to 1971, during which he won the Football League championship twice and the FA Cup once. He also played 26 times for the England national football team.

Liverpool-born Labone chose to join Everton at 17 in July 1957 instead of going to university. His debut for the first team was in 1958. Labone made 451 League appearances for Everton and a total of 534 in all competitions. He scored two league goals and was booked only twice throughout his career. Manager Harry Catterick called him "the last of the Corinthians". Labone played in the championship teams of 1962–63 and 1969–70, in the FA Cup winning team of 1966, and in the FA Cup final of 1968. He also won the FA Charity Shield in 1963 and 1970. Labone showed his high opinion of Everton in a simple quote "One Evertonian is worth twenty Liverpudlians". Labone played 26 times for England between 1962 and 1970. He withdrew from England's 1966 World Cup squad because of his imminent marriage but played in three of the four games in the World Cup in 1970 in Mexico.

In 1970–71 Labone sustained a serious injury to his Achilles tendon and retired from playing. A few years earlier he had announced, at the beginning of the season, his intention to retire at the end of that season, in typical fashion giving the club as much notice as possible so that he could be replaced. Such was the outcry however that he changed his mind and played on for two more seasons.