Everton FC was formed by a north Liverpool church, St Domingo's, in 1878 to encourage local lads to "stay good and righteous". They soon drummed up huge crowds playing on Stanley Park and local brewer and club president John Houlding thought it best they move to a stadium south of the park - Anfield.
Anfield was close to Houlding's pub, the Sandon, which did a roaring trade on match days. And it was also only his brew allowed to be sold in the ground during games. He was doing alright out of the arrangement then, but he was also helping out with ground maintenance, transfer fees and wages - so he hiked the rent in 1889 from £100 to £250.
Everton weren't happy, about the price hike or the fact they had to change in Houlding's pub and sup his ale all the time. After a three-year standoff, and refusing his offer to buy Anfield for £6,000, they bought their own plot for £8,090 at Mere Green (later to be called Goodison Park).
Houlding, incensed at Everton's rebuttal, started his own team called Liverpool and with the help of a member of staff who hadn't decamped with Everton, John McKenna, helped set up 'The Team of the Macs' - a side made up of several Scotsman who won promotion to the first division in their first season but didn't beat their Evertonian rivals until September 1897.
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