Lovely memories of being there. 117th minute, Reidy free kick, Deggers header on, INCHY. Iost my shoe, Eugene Raune might still have it today. Onto the pitch, and 4 years later a saints fan told me they 'took us', erm .......

That 117th min goal is my fave EFC moment of all time, ahead of Rotterdam. Later, at home, replaying Radio Merseyside, 'Oh Everton don't lose your heads now'.

Left Highbury, elated, rather than heading home we went the other way to central London and got hammered. In the Punch and Judy in Covent Garden that night blues were everywhere as in 84/85/86/87 and later on at the Sussex on Drury Lane and the Cambridge at Cambridge Circus. We were blessed, what days. That team. Sharpy 23 goals before Xmas and my faves, Lord Sheeds and Tricky Trrevor. Wish all you 20/30 somethings could have been there. And don't get me started on crates of Grolsch in Rotterdam at 7am, tackling a mean crew of Rapid-V boys headed by Vienna's Buster Bloodvessel and me running in grolsch heaven into a tree with a pack of Vienna lads on my tail.

I spent a whole day on you tube looking at these and other highlights on my iPad the other week, think of a game and it's on there 18,000 to villa in milk cup semi , the lot,made me smile and also sad, I think we are far more closer to great days than we have been for years if this liar would sell up.

Recovered and performed mightily in the bru-ha-ha. COYB

Milk Cup Semi VIlla, what a night. Hii to Stan the driver , Gilly, Ant, Nigeh,
Johnny, Bricker, Si, Bracey, Mad-Fred, and Humey x2 in the minivan that met outside
The Railway in Waterloo that day, precious, precious memories. And Keith Mullen from The Farm was there with his musical hammer.

I cried at Villa Park that night and whenever I hear Michael Caine by Madness I feel like I'm 15 again on the Barnes travel coach, what great days, I am never off you tube looking at these clips and listening to the songs that remind me of those days, China Crisis,Flock of Seagulls and obviously Elton Johns one for us, just look at the crowds in those days too, we sound like old men going on but on its day footy was on another level in those days, for us at least.

Great spot Trevor - have spent countless hours trawling YouTube for old match highlights! Link here for those who want to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45wcFvPzm44

The Villa league Cup semi, what a night indeed. Unbelieavable support. I remember the chaos on the terraces when the players reappeared after the game. Some of them even sat in the stands!

Semi @ Highbury what a game, first ever time I'd been to an FA Cup Semi-Final, my older brother kept telling me were gonna do it, don't panic. The scenes at the end were incredible, especially the actor who plays Damon Grant passing around a bottle of sherry / port??? And even a copper taking a swig!!

TELL ME MA ME MA, WE'RE GOIN 'TO WEMBLEY TWICE!!!!

A university mate of mine lived near Highbury and his uncle worked on the gate at the Clock End, so we got let in for free.

Problem was, Everton were on the North Bank! So, keeping my gob shut we shoved our way down the terracing to the front.
I tapped a steward on the back, and told him I was an Everton fan, and so he let us clinb over the wall and walked us down the side of the pitch to the other end. Imagine that happening today!

I can't remember anything about the game, apart from Inchy's late, late winner past Shilton. I do remember, however, the resultant pitch invasion, and all the Blues who remained waiting around the touchline while the final minutes were played out.

When the final whistle blew, hundreds of Blues ran on to the pitch to celebrate, with the inevitable result that there was a big scrap with the Southampton fans in the centre circle.

Happy Days!

Incidentally, the following season I took my Arsenal mate to his only visit to Goodison. It was the Sunderland game with the two Andy Gray diving headers and the epic Bracewell pass to Trevor Steven. He has always said it was the best football he's ever seen.

One of my favourite Everton days out this one. April 14, 1984. On a packed North Bank at Highbury, sun shining and it seemed strange as I had only ever stood on the Clock End as an away fan. I remember the whole end singing ' come on you blues, come on you blues, come on you blues as we wited for Everton to come out after Southampton ( none of this coming out together and poncey handshaking stuff of nowadays! ) and what a reception our boys got when they ran out.

With the goal, I recall the ball seemed to hang in the air forever when Inchy headed it straight towards me and time seemed to stop for a second. Then the ball hit the net and pandemonium. I went on the pitch, even had time to take a photo ( really! ) before nearly getting flattened by a white police horse!

Closest to it since was the Man Utd semi I think, but truth be told we'll never have another semi quite like that one. So glad I was there.

Highbury 1984 brings back great memories. Everyone got on the pitch, a great day out.

Villa Park, Milk Cup Semi-Final — what support we had that night! It seemed like we had half the ground. Can anyone remember the massive Everton flag down by the Holt end? A brilliant day out.

I have had some of my best days at the semis: Man Utd at Wembley, Spurs at Elland Road, Luton at Villa Park to name just a few. Fantastic memories .

One of my favourite memories is the away FA Cup tie at Southampton in, I think, 1981. Alan Ball was playing for them and when his name was announced the reception from us was incredible. Ball said afterwards that he couldn't believe it and was unable to play properly.

After that many of us had to stand up all the way back to Lime Street on a train with no light or heat for about 7 hours. Magic! I wouldn't swap stuff like that for anything.

Where would we be without this wonderful entity called Everton?

I was 14 at the time and could not believe the amount of blues there that day, when we scored the emotion was unbelievable. My dad and uncle tommy just disappeared into the crowd I was left a little frightened because they where gone for ages. A total stranger picked me up and kept flinging me into the air screaming " WE'RE BACK AFTER 14 YEARS. Those words will stay with me forever with the images of all the toffees around trafalger square sitting on the lions, glorious memories.

I'd managed to get 3 tickets in the stand so gave one to my old Father In Law and 1 to my brother in law. I said that we'd be better going by train but they saw the cost and opted for a coach from north Wales but I still took the train. Their journey back was a nightmare, with the coach stopping at every pub and the aisle awash with sick and piss. Me, smug bastard, I was home by about 21.30, having a drink and watching MOTD, they got in at some unGodly hour, knackered and fed up, hung over and stinking of other peoples piss. But what a day!

Funny, I was thinking about this yesterday.

The reason it occurred to me yesterday is that it was 35 years ago yesterday that I stepped (ie: ran screaming) onto Goodison Park for the first and only time in my life (figure it out)

However for the Southampton semi, I like many others was involved in TWO 'invasions'.

Twice on at Highbury in one game, once at Goodison in roughly 46 years.

I've also been on the pitch at Loftus Rd twice (once playing - no really!) and once at Filbert St.

Paul Ferry - I have a size 5 Freeman Hardy & Willis slip-on (in povvo grey) that I picked up that day.

Let me know if it's yours and I'll get it to you.

I was lucky enough to be there that sunny Saturday afternoon and all the pent up emotion had built up over 13 long years. Semi defeats by the other lot twice, once a travesty of which there is no parallel, Lampard's dad scoring late in the Semi at Elland Rd. losing LC finals twice after 0-9 draws and lots of other near misses including the previous year when god knows how many Blues roared the team on at OT only to be denied at least a replay by a last minute winner for Utd.

So when 'Inchy' scored that goal, every disappointment had at last altered to utter joy and relief. A never to be forgotten day and one of the reasons I dislike Wembley being used for Semi Finals it takes a little of the magic away.

Patrick#183, that spirit of inevitable failure was so ingrained that on the tube back to my brother's flat in London we managed to convince ourselves that the second pitch invasion had caused the match to be abandoned. We dived into the nearest pub to check out the result, and ended up staying there for quite some time.

Eugene#175, you weren't the rather elderly gent who ambled on to shake Big Bob's hand when everyone else had cleared the pitch were you?

What a day. Still got my Echo special edition 'We're Back'. Not a classic goal but a special goal that caused widespread madness at Highbury.

Not me Peter (198), back then I was young, dumb and full of cu....rry and chips from the supper bar

That old bloke WOULD be me now though, should we ever produce a striker who can hit 30 league goals in a season.

(can't see me ambling on to shake hands with Vic or Jelly anytime soon)

Never mind Eugene, where once there was agility now lie wit and sagacity.

For many years me mam's fridge housed a plastic bag containing a bit of the Stretford End penalty spot, from where, just before half-time, Moggsy scored in the semi against Leeds

Final whistle, pitch invasion and the penalty spot was the first target

From the number of Blues I've met who also dug up a bit, that penalty spot would have had to have been as big as the pitch!

God, I feel sorry for young Blues today who have never seen a great Everton side

God, I feel sorry for young Blues today who have never seen a great Everton side.

I like that and it is worrying when you look at it :-(

40 years and counting now,but that Highbury Semi was my favourite moment too. I was at the famous Oxford away game aswell but it didn't compare (for one thing,we were shite and it was fookin' freezin - think that was one of David Johnson's last appearances,and he wasn't arsed). The Southampton game was different though 'cos you knew we were getting to be a good side. They were a boss set of players and they just swept you along with their ability and determination. The previous round was a battle against a tough Notts. County team,in the mud,but they just wouldn't be denied,and it was a pleasure to follow. Great memories! . I might be an old fantasist but I still believe it's possible to assemble a group like that without City or Chelsea money (nobody wanted Reid or Gray for example) but you have to let good players play Mr.Moyes!

Gary - "I might be an old fantasist but I still believe it's possible to assemble a group like that without City or Chelsea money (nobody wanted Reid or Gray for example) but you have to let good players play Mr.Moyes!"

I think you're right.

Of COURSE money helps with success, but if you look at that side (and Clough's Forest and successful 70s-80s Liverpool sides) the idea, whether conscious or not, was based on the collective.

No 'stars' no egos etc.

(nb: Real Madrid, brilliant players, expensive players but knocked out of the CL by a...TEAM)

However if it were ever to happen (again) for us, I believe totally that it won't happen without first getting a Peter Reid.

A big mouth, a nark, a hard-case, someone the rest of them fear and respect.

Not someone who doesn't like losing, someone who fucking DESPISES losing.

Someone who would cheat at Monopoly when playing their own kids,

If we could find this type of character, I believe we COULD get closer.

At the moment we might be watching the quietest (nicest?) Everton side ever.

Eugene, I don't think Everton are that far off having a group of players like they had in the 80s. The problem is that the game has moved on (not in a good way for me). You now need two groups of good players to really challenge at the top and if we had a Reid, Gray or Van den Hauwe now they would be suspended every other week.

Eugene, 352. Any ideas who that might be?

Joey Barton will be looking for a new club this summer. Definitely not ideal but not sure how many of those sorts of players are around these days.

I think if Felli goes then a strong, box to box leader is definitely needed. Difficult to imagine someone from Europe coming in and bossing our team but maybe Capoue, Fer or Strootman?

Eugene@352 - Totally agree with Eugene's comments about Peter Reid and how this is a very 'nice' current side.

My recollection of that side was that they had an intense, burning desire to win.

I guess with Reid he thought his career was almost over due to his injury record and that was his motivation. 'Our Howie' takes a punt when other managers bottled it - £60k ? - the rest is history as they say.

That side had other leaders too - would YOU have wanted to play against Pat VDH ?!

Some will mock the recollections with 'jumpers for goalposts' comments and say the game has moved on.

In the heat of battle on the pitch, IMO strength of character still means a hell of a lot.

Example ? I was lucky enough to be there for Bayern Munich Semi-final 2nd leg at Goodison - their centre half looked like a man mountain. Gray/Sharp never flinched from a challenge all night.

Michael, think how Sharpy and Gray battered their back 4 and keeper all night and then compare that with the pointless nothing that cost us a disallowed goal at Villarreal and that is where the game has changed.

Don't know if you have a video of the Bayern game but if you watch it back with a 21st century view of the game you'll wonder how Reid doesn't get sent off inside the first 10 minutes and same goes for the German guy that puts his studs through Reid's shinpad that had so much blood pouring through it he ended the first half in one red sock.

It's a girls game now, proper players don't prosper anymore.

Sam (358) - "Eugene, 352. Any ideas who that might be?"

Well this type of player is (I believe) born not made.

Their will to win and hatred of losing is innate.

Reid, Collins, Keane, Ball, McKay, Souness (spit!) Bremner etc - I don't believe their attitude was coached into them.

Truth is, there are not many of them around these days.

I imagine there might be one or two knocking about in the lower leagues but unearthing them (without others becoming aware of them), no easy task.

I have to say I'm a fan of Nolan.

Supporters of every team he's played for seem to love him.

He has a fucking big mouth, is a narky bastard, can (as we know) put a 'stiff' tackle in and he seems to have 'that thing' where he drags those around him, along with him.

He can (imo) also play a bit.

He leads by example, scores goals and generally seems to hate getting beat.

When West Ham got him for (something like) £6m, I couldn't get over it, particularly given there were players who needed five touches to control a ball, being sold for £8m - £10m.

It's about trying to find a Reid and/or a Gray.

I don't mean a striker and a midfield player, I mean people or a person who has a personality that influences the rest.

I remember Inchy saying the team in 83 wasn't bad, but quiet.

He also said it was the infectious enthusiasm and attitude of those two aging players that changed everything.

Our coach travelled back up the motorway alongside the Team bus, that evening after Highbury. We were in high spirits, and the Aussies and Tennents Extra were flowing freely.

We'd also had a couple of bottles of 99p String of Pearls which was a fizzy cider, but it had a pop-cork, that made it open like champagne. If you drank half you could still force the cork back in and get a pop out of it. Everytime the team passed we'd give it a shake and crack it again, ha. The players got onto it and must have thought we had a big stash of Champers (£1.98 worth from the Kwiky!). I remember Inchy, Richardson, Stevens et al. toasting us and laughing – "But then, we were all very, very, very drunk"

Eugene - 175 - you absolute treasure. This is a long shot. is my
lucky toenail still inside aforementioned footwear? That was not my normal footwear in '84 I hope you understand, I was trendier than that, all my good stuff was at my ex-girlfriends who exed/axed me the day before. She's now married to a very rich man. Makes me think of Jilted John who had a came walk on in Alf Robert's corner store on luvvy's Corrie back in the day.
Could you please post the shoe and hopefully the toenail to me c/o Geoff Nulty, 13A (apartment-7) Grim Drive, Burnley, Lancs, BNP1 0RS

Semi vs Saints. What a day. I was living in West London at the time and went to the game with my brother, Steve. Before the match we found a pub in Finsbury Park which was empty to begin with, but filled up with our lot, and then theirs. Great atmosphere, very friendly, lots of warm banter. I remember one guy getting a huge laugh from the Saints fans when he said "With friends like your's, who need McMenemies?"

Anyway, 8 pints before the game meant I spent half of the first 45 minutes in the loo - good job the game went to extra time, so I could get my money's worth. The winner was a blur, I was level with the 18 yard line at the scoring end but we couldn;t work out which fair haired head had put it in - we didn't care

After the match it was back to West London, straight off the tube at North Ealing in early evening sunshine and into the Greystoke for a few more jars before we popped two doors down for a ruby. Then it was home to my flat for Match of the Day and to make some inroads into a bottle of Bacardi Gold.

Of for those days again!

Karl #031, I was 14 at the time, I'd been to Villa Park and Elland Road for the semi's against West Ham (Dad had to carry me crying back from Elland Road to the car), Was in the Paddock at United with the United Supported with my Dad and Granddad in 83 when Stapleton scored (The Everton support was absolutely immense) and must have been in line with you at Highbury, I was directly in line with Inchy's header, half way up the North Bank!

What an atmosphere, I'd been used to the unroofed Gwlady's Street End, the North Bank and it's metal roof was 20 times louder, bonkers.

You can see from this thread the difference in the generations of Evertonians, there's us, who have been there through the good and the bad, seen it and done it and know it's possible. Then there's the new generation, who only know the bad and don't believe there can ever be the good.

Well we are here to say it isn't ALL about money, of course it helps, it always did, BUT we CAN see the good again, we just have to believe, and that means Moyes and the players, as well as the supporters.

Let's start this Sunday, if Moyes BELIEVES and gets the players to believe for once, we can stuff the Kopites.

COYB

Was that mid-80's side put together for mega amounts in comparative terms ?

Memory plays tricks and all that but I can't remember the signings of Mountfield, Pat VDH and Southall being much at all ? For some reason, £60k for Peter Reid sticks in my mind from Bolton. I remember watching Trevor Steven playing alongside Martin Dobson for Burnley when it was rumoured we were interested in him. The old maestro and his apprentice - £300k ?

Anyone remember the amounts for the others ?

Were we 'buying success' ? Or was it very shrewd purchases from HK and then blending them into that fantastic team ?

No Michael,there were no extravagent buys among that squad. Richardson,Stevens,Rats were brought through the ranks. Mountfield,Sheedy,Sharp,Southall and Pat vdH, the result of good scouting. Reid and Gray were in the Bargain Basket!. . We splashed a few quid (comparatively)on Bracewell and Inchy,but not record breaking stuff. Tricky Trev was highly rated as a teenager,but he was a steal at any price(Liverpool actually had first option on him but their interest had cooled). So all in all Michael it was certainly no Sheikh Mohamed Abramovic stuff!

I was there in 1984 - my first FA semi final live. My second was in 2009 so I still have a 100% record.

We were heavy underdogs that day. We were a good and respected side (by April) having not lost a game all year (apart from the League Cup final replay and a dead rubber of second leg against Villa in the semi). Although we only finished 9th that season we had started so badly that we were viewed in a similar light to our current team - good, dangerous opposition but not spectacular and lacking stars and flair.

Southampton finished second in the league that season and had some very good players - including bald eagle Armstrong and Shilton in goal. It would be similar now to beating a team like Chelsea or City or Arsenal.

We were a couple of players short of the great team of '85. We still had Irvine and Bailey in the starting 11. Sharp was on the bench that day. No Van Den Hauwe or Bracewell. And a host of the other players were still developing, such as Stevens, Steven and Mountfield.

Irvine didn't play in the Southapton semi, David... Terry Curran played on the left. Irvine had featured in The Milk Cup Final, but HK (and the fans) had started to figure that he wasn't quite top-level...

It's often forgotten but Curran actually refused to be substituted (for Sharp) that day. HK took Steven off instead, much to the fans' anger, but it was the last we seen of Curran! Sheedy had been injured at Wembley, by a nasty Phil Neal tackle, and was out all season, so we just made do on the left – with Kevin Richardson playing there against Watford.

David Ellis, I hope you don't mind me asking, but how come you didn't go to semis in 85,86 and 89?

Trevor not forgetting 1995 at Elland Road which is probably the second most enjoyable Semi-Final I have had the good fortune to witness.

How could I forget 1995! Was very nervous about that one as we were clear underdogs and Spurs had clinical Klinsmann. We made them look ordinary.

Robbie Shields - I agree with all you say.

And it should be remembered that only 3 and a half months before this great occasion we played Coventry in front of 13,659 at Goodison in a poor 0-0 draw and Kendall was clinging to his job by a thread. What the likes of Tony Marsh and his ilk wopuld have had to say about that first half of a season is probably unprintable! Maybe it was Tony who daubed ' Kendall Out' on Howie's garage door the previous November? :)

Football fortunes can swing round very fast, even these days. If you don't believe good times will happen again, what's really the point of following your team? Might as well take up Sudoku or something!

Always remember moments after we scored, Wallace (Danny?) nippy little left-sided player breaking away and just putting it wide of Nev's left post.

And a bloody great banner along the stand to the right of the North Bank.... "Victory to the Miners"

One of the best days ever!