Everton’s Class of 1985: The Greatest Team You Probably Never Saw

All downhill then like!

Best teams I saw were the '66 through '71 incarnations.

Not only was the blend of characters almost perfect, they had skill, fight, determination and any other positive adjective you care to mention. That team truly represented the fans on the terraces and it is such a pity that not many Everton sides since that group have even come close. Obviously Joe Royle's Everton had elements of it, as did the Moyes team which included Arteta and Cahill.

I do hope that the younger supporters experience an Everton team that they can feel proud of and one which they will talk fondly about when they reach our age.

You can very easily solve the problem of wasting money on players by appointing the most intelligent player of the 85 side as our chief scout.

Southall was certainly the best keeper but Catterick's team had a stronger defence especially when the peerless Ray Wilson was fit. Neither Baines nor Van den Hauwe were anywhere near to his standard, he really was that good.

Wright was a better right back than Stevens, Hurst was vastly underrated, and Labone was a class above Mountfield or Watson. Ratcliffe was a class defender but as a pair I would go for Hurst and Labone.

The midfield in 1985-87 was very good but in my opinion could not compete with Morrissey plus the Holy Trinity. The Trinity were too quick of foot and thought for Reid and Bracewell and would have dominated them. Sheedy was a very good player but Kendall and Wright would have made his life difficult whilst Morrissey would have terrified Gary Stevens.

Up front, I loved Sharp and Heath but Labone would have had the measure of them. Jimmy Husband or Alan Whittle would have found it tough against Van den Hauwe but Royle would have given Mountfield or Watson (I realise Watson came after 1985) a torrid time and neither of them would have coped with him in the air.

The big difference between the teams would have been Ball. Not only would he have dominated midfield he would also have been alongside Joe up front. It is difficult to explain just how good Ball was but quite simply, back in those days when he was at his peak, if he played well, we would win (apart from in the 1968 FA Cup Final that is).

All that said, the eighties team was great and were it not for the RS we would have dominated for years. The problem was we lost Howard and they bought Barnes, Beardsley and Houghton at a time when some of our key players were getting long-term injuries. At their peak, they were awesome, full of spirit and fight, played as a true unit and you could see the camaraderie from the stands.

It was a privilege to see the fantastic teams from both eras and we can only hope that one day we will again have such a great team to support.

Out celebrating that night and who does one of my mates turn up with? The very same Gary Stevens. Great night all round as we moved in on Gary's throwaways (girlwise). :-)

That 1984-85 team was a wonderful mix of graft and craft, everything was about earning the right to play and playing in their half; two things we should follow today.

I only hope I live to see a team like that again and create as many memories as we all did back then.

Not long after, Gary Stevens had a few problems with his Achilles!! Apparently that was girl-related also!! What a player though...

One of the reasons the gates were so low was Howard struggled for two years to get a decent side and the fans drifted away, with gates of under 20,000 not being unusual, and they never got back to what they should have been with such a marvellous team.

I agree with Dave Williams (#8) that Catterick's team of the 1968-70 was a better team and would say, in my opinion that the 1963 team was also superior and was the best Everton team I ever saw.

All three teams were brilliant to watch with great individual players in each of them.

I saw them all: '63, '70, '85 in that order.

I am very interested in your assessment of that team!

Maybe I shouldn't have said can't agree, as it is all about opinion, sorry... However, my opinion is that the '85 team was the best and I've seen them all... wouldn't it be good if we could have something near those times at the moment?

The team if I recall correctly was Southall, Stevens, Mountfield, Ratcliffe, Steven, Reid, Bracewell, Sheedy, Sharp, Heath – others around the time and added were: Andy Gray, Wayne Clarke, Alan Harper.

We also got Paul Power at a later date who was finished!! But won his first major title within 12 months in '87 and was probably Player of the Season! I'm getting goosebumps just writing about it (we got fed up of going to Wembley in them days).

And he has dismissed us ever since as a former team – we made him and he cast us aside and has been dong ever since on MotD – smarmy bastard!

The town was buzzing, the music was great, there was work for the older lads and apprenticeships for kids leaving school.

The pubs were busy and the council hadn't completely wrecked the City by decanting everyone out to Kirkby, Skem etc.

I thought Spurs were the team to beat, not long done the double and we'd been in the doldrums for a while.

I always felt Catterick was slowly getting the pieces together and the season just clicked. We were the Mersey Millionaires, the team were playing great football and we had the Golden Vision. I thought it would never end. How wrong.

Maybe it was because I was younger, no real cares and happy to go all over watching them with no segregation that I can recall.

Like the 85 team, there were no real big head superstars – the squad just gelled. I always thought the football we played that season was less "scripted" and things were a bit more off the cuff.

As you mentioned, Vernon – I think he did peak around then.

I just preferred the style we had that season. Catterick built 2 great teams but he also wrecked them far too soon for reasons known only to him. Kendall, well, in my opinion we would have gone on with him as he had Europe in his sights. Those aspirations ended with Heysel.

I think your nasty post is way off the mark. Lineker is on record saying that the Everton side he played in was the best team of his career. And since he also played for Barcelona, that is saying a lot.

All about opinion, mate – not nasty, just a fact. He couldn't have said anything else. Barcelona were nowhere near us in them days! He used us as a stepping stone and showed no loyalty to us whatsoever – couldn't wait to “further his career”... good luck to him. But not an Evertonian when they say: Once touched by Blue, always a Blue!!

When Leicester won the Premier League, they reminded me a lot of that great side as they had a lot of the same qualities.

Still, let's keep on supporting the old farts who've conspicuously failed us eh?

Wouldn't want to demand a change would we? Jeez no, we might even end up winning trophies again!

2nd, or is that 3rd; 62-63... a short head.

3rd; 86-87; half a length.

In my own mind, I solved the dead-heat problem thus: Having ranked them to a dead-heat using a 'one off' horse racing analogy and as we're talking League and not Cup, I needed to find a sport with a lot of games. So I switched sports to... Snooker.

The Final often acknowledged as the greatest ever was also in 1985, so it's 35th and final frame, which is as near to a result and sort of fitting. This went down to the blackball of the dead heat / close finish as you can get... as befits 2 great teams.

My decider, my black ball as it were, was one thing... more later.

Having watched both teams, the 69-70 played a more Cavalier game, you could, without stretching it too far, class the 84-85 as the Roundheads if you wished.

A look at the records for both seasons show that 69-70 W29, L6 and that 84-85 W28, L8.

Both teams, iirc, had it won with games to spare and tapered off towards the end... won by half a furlong and cantered to the finish... but it has to be remembered that 84-85 gave the rest of the field a start, got stuck in the starting stalls, losing the first two games.

In our Imaginary 41 frames of snooker/football, the 69-70 team would have scored more 147s and century breaks, but the 84-85 term would have won more of the close frames, the 56-48 close wins. This is where the black ball decider comes in.

That 84-85 team just hated to lose a bit more than 69-70 and that IMHO, makes the difference.

That said, If I was given just one season's access to The TARDIS or a Flux Capacitored De Lorean, I would set the dial to 69-70.

Came home for Christmas in 1985 after following the team every week in the Sunday paper – had to buy a good one to get a decent match report. No TV, no internet. Every week I remember thinking "We are on a good run but we will get beat next week," but we never did.

Went to the Boxing Day match and Wow! This was a team... something was happening, it was easy to see. Even when teams were clean through, we had pace to get back and cover or Southall would sort it. Never seemed prolific scorers but we could always nick one.

That may even have been the game we lost 4-3 to Chelsea but it was the best team I have seen in blue.

Catterick changed the team into a solid determined eleven who feared no-one, home or away. Harry bought a young spectacular goalkeeper, Gordon West, sold every fan's idol, Bobby Collins (a mistake), but brought in a younger player, not as good but one who fitted in well with the way the team performed, Dennis Stevens. He followed this up with possibly his best signing, Tony Kay, a strong personality, captain in the making, and added to these by stealing Johnny Morrissey from Liverpool for next to nothing. The manager then strengthened the team further by adding Alex Scott in place of Billy Bingham.

Kay and Scott came in for the second half of that Championship-winning season and played the way football should be played – ball on the floor, classy attacking football to sweep the opposition away. If the opposition wanted to stop this type of game by mixing in the rough stuff, then Parker, Gabriel, Kay, and Stevens, aided by captain Roy Vernon and Morrissey, were more than ready to take them on.

Football first was the priority, mixed with hardness if necessary; a great team which was a credit to watch and support. It was followed the following season by being drawn against the eventual winners of the European Cup, Inter Milan, when we lost to them over two legs by one goal.

One thing Everton teams have never had is that little bit of luck, like getting a decent draw that year to enable us to get our feet under the table before the best team were picked to play us.

That 84-85 season was what I had been dreaming of since I first started going to watch Everton. It was amazing. We had so much confidence and swagger. Going across the park and winning the first derby with Sharpie's wonder goal just made it all the more sweet.

I remember being in the Gwladys Street for the home rearranged derby near the end of the season. Nothing to play for as we and already won the league, it was absolutely heaving. I think Paul Wilkinson scored the winner in a much changed team and the whole crowd singing "Hand it over, Liverpool" in regards to the league trophy. That moment has yet to be bettered for me. A magical season.

Kevin, I think you should check your facts, mate. We sold Lineker – he didn't ask to go. As always, it was considered too good a financial deal for our club to ignore – just like when we sold Ball.

And as Terry White says, Lineker has praised us and his time at Goodison on countless occasions.

Dave (#28),

It's a difficult call, I dither between the 62-63 side and the 69-70 side but, in my opinion, the 69-70 just shades it, mainly due to the Holy Trinity, although, when I think of Young, Vernon and Kay bloody hell... that's a difficult one!

He earned his move to us and then went on to be lauded and appreciated at every other club he played for. As already mentioned, he has clearly announced (I've seen the footage) that the Everton team he played in was the best he played in.

I think he has every right to choose not to disregard the high opinion of the Leicester, Barcelona and Tottenham fans who he spent much more of his career with.

It is great that some players never find the same level of belonging than they felt at Everton but do we really need to try to assassinate the character of those players who end up with multiple allegiances for perfectly understandable reasons?

I thought Peter Reid was the most important player, he drove us forward. But one interview I read had players saying it was goalkeeper Southall and centre-back Ratcliffe who were... the one was the best goalie in the league and one-on-one would beat almost everyone – except perhaps Rush – and the other, the fastest centre-back in the league. Between the two, our team knew it could attack with abandon and be unlikely to concede more than one goal.

Aside, I often thought the 85-86 team even better, but it lost both league and cup. However, with a new system using Lineker we lagged early on, but then overtook everyone midway through the season. By February, we were miles ahead. But then came a freak run from Liverpool. But we would have still won the league if our team not bottled it.

April to May 1986 was the only time that team lost belief: it was a tragedy. The 85-86 team was superb, but bottled it. Who knows? – Maybe the 84-85 team woulda bottled it too.... But it took a huge lead in March, and no-one else went on a freak run.

We also bossed the 1986 Cup Final. Lots of chances, one goal. then Liverpool, two chances in two minutes: two goals. A freak comeback again from the others. A freak end to the season. Otherwise, that 86 team would be the team we are talking about.

That was the one time Everton weren't a selling club... good players would have walked to Goodison in them days but we already had the best.

I don't need to check my facts, mate.. I never missed a game in those days, home and away. Lineker fell on his feet when he joined Everton – it was even his mates Reid, Steven and Stevens that got him through as top scorer in the World Cup!

He retired from England early and chased money in Japan with an in-growing to nail... and now he is an average TV presenter!!

I remember reading at the time how Kendall agreed to it because he felt we'd focused too much on Lineker's pace. I'm not so sure; I think we'd have won the double if Nev hadn't got injured.

On a lighter note, I remember the game at Wembley against the red shite and the scousers getting in with rolled-up tenners in a ticket stub that had been passed out to them from supporters already in the ground... no wonder it was packed!

You also say "If it was the best team he played in, why did he want to leave?" The answer is that he didn't. He was told Barcelona had made an offer and we had accepted it.

We paid £800k and received, what, £2.8M. Just like we did with Ball, sell for a profit. We thought we could more than double our money in one season and go back to the successful style we had before Lineker came.

And Kendall's aspirations to manage in Spain came after the Heysel ban, if I remember rightly. There was also talk of Southall going to Barca where Kendall imagined he was going to end up; instead, he ended up in Bilbao.

I had no older relative to take me under their match-going wing, so generally I tried to meet up with a few lads from school on the Gwladys Street terraces. It didn't bother me if I couldn't find them as it was sometimes easier to find a good speck in front of the barrier above the trench if you were on your own (not that anyone was really alone in that crowd).

Loved every minute, from the banter in the long, snaking queues, the slowly building buzz of the stadium filling up from up to an hour before kick-off (no reserved seats, it was first-come, first-served if you could hold your own), to the noisy carnival atmosphere that seemed ever present when the team were on the pitch. We (I think it was everyone present) just didn't expect to lose to anyone and the players lived up to that expectation more often than not.

Gary Stevens was definitely more of a defender than an attacker but had great athleticism. He was more likely to shank a ball down the line into the crowd than anything else. Worked very well with the sublime ‘Tricky' Trevor Steven though when it was kept simple.

That was the key all over the park; combinations that worked to overcome individual weaknesses and make the most of the abundant strengths. All the fringe players (Alan Harper and Kevin Richardson) never seemed to let us down when they were called on.

I was very fortunate to be at some of the games people always reference (Man Utd 5-0, Sunderland 4-1). Most memorable has to be the Bayern Munich semi-final. That was a performance and atmosphere that would stir the hardest heart and incite the most indifferent to frenzied tribalism. It would be wonderful to get to that level again and I think the right manager could do it with Moshiri's money.

Come on, Rochdale!!!!!

It worked dead easy, mind you it helped the fella working the turnstile was about 86!!!

When we left Rotterdam, we went straight to London; again, I had a ticket but could not believe the crowd in Wembley that day. I could not even attempt to put the actual attendance. Had there been an accident it would have put Heysel and Hillsboro combined in the shade. Horrendous thinking about it now.

As the Everton team coach approached the stadium outside the old Scoreboard End, I was caught up in a mob of United supporters who were banging on the side of the coach and spitting at the windows. Peter Reid was sitting next to the window, playing cards. He didn't bat an eyelid at the furore, but then with the merest hint of a grin he pulled a card from his hand and pressed it against the window – the 5 of Diamonds.

I was at the 1966 FA Cup Final but if you watch the movement of the crowd on TV you can see the massive overload of the attendance, thousands jibbed in, as they did the year before for the Leeds Utd - Liverpool final.

As you say, it is amazing that nothing serious happened on the terraces in those games and the Man Utd game.

Years from now, I don't think I will remember! Sadly... so maybe it doesn't matter so much.

If we beat the red shite soon ,I will put an alarm on my phone to go off every 12 months – now there's a plan – that's if I remember we're my phone is...

(You left it in the ale house.)

It seemed we were at Wembley or big games every year then which is why I really feel for the kids now who haven't known such elation.

I am, however, a firm believer that, with the investment and new stadium, the club will once again become a major power. It may take a little more patience, as the saying goes: Rome wasn't... etc etc!!

COYB !!!!

I started going the game in 1984 and so was completely spoiled by this team. I don't think I saw us lose a game at home for three seasons!

That is something I regret because, from what I did see of them, they were a fantastic team. Two players stood out in that team to me – Peter Reid and Andy Gray – both courageous.

Our day will come again and our young fans will be as mad as the rest of us – roll on.

Up the Blues

They say nostalgia is good for the soul, great memories.

If only...

And we would have seen the England team if it wasn't for the shithouse FA changing the venue for the England-Portugal semi-final in the 1966 World Cup.

The best team I have seen, admittedly on TV, was the 1970 Brazil side. Fabulous.

I'm not saying they'll ever be as good, but the pride of playing for Everton, the dogged determination and the relationship with the fans are things which today's expensive foreigners usually don't have.

What a performance by Hungary in that game, and whereas Brazil were booted off the pitch in the other two games versus Bulgaria and Portugal, particularly by Portugal, they were outclassed by a terrific Hungarian team. They turned the clock back to the 1953 Magyar side that completely destroyed England twice that year, 6-3 at Wembley and then 7-1 back in Hungary with the fabulous Puskas and Hidagutti (sic) bringing unseen skills to a fascinated football ordiance in Britain.

The sixties teams under Catterick were great at separate times but Catterick was not a popular manager and Kendall struggled early on until everything clicked.

The players always hold the key and, no matter what the manager does, if they don't perform on the field then it's all for nought.

Players, no matter how skilful need to show intensity and teamwork in every game in order to produce consistent results.

The Catterick team of 1962 was probably the best because they had to outdo the fabulous Spurs double-winning team of Bill Nicholson, play without substitutes and basically have a squad devoid of imported players.

People might say, well, in those days teams didn't park the bus match after match but that still meant that defenders had to be exceptional because the door was open for much more attacking pressure as teams usually played with 5 forwards.

I thought I was the only one to have got in the Liverpool game with the Watford final ticket but I actually got caught by the steward. He called a copper over to check if my ticket was forged and without looking at the front, turned it over and run a felt pen down the ticket. The felt did not run so the copper told the steward to let me go.

There were 12 of us in a transit that went to Wembley that day and only one of us had a ticket. We all got in of course. 😃

The attendances in the eighties were desperately poor on account of multiple job losses in the manufacturing industry and the resulting recession during the dire Thatcher years – but they were not quite as bad as the figures might suggest. Wasn't there some sort of VAT fiddle going on with the numbers registered at the turnstiles being significantly lower than they should have been – for which several clubs were fined in an amnesty several tears later?

The most unsafe I've ever felt at a match was at the Watford Cup Final. My ticketless mate slapped a tenner on the counter as we queued up – and got in – there was no anti-crush queuing system – everyone just funnelled into the turnstile, so it was impossible to turn around and leave once in the melee. Also, I distinctly remember tickets being thrown out of the stadium and even rope ladders suspended down the sides of the staircase towers!

After the match, we spiralled our way down the staircase just hoping that nobody tripped over because the throng behind couldn't possible see what was happening below them around the corner. I swear I was carried down that staircase with my feet hardly touching the floor. A fantastic day but probably just one stumble away from a monumental tragedy.

He said "I'll have to take them, the cans of lager, I said "Fair enough, you can have a butty to go with them if you want". He declined the offer and I danced in, only to suffer once again at the hands of them so-and-so's.

Alan (#24), I don't know if you had your tongue firmly in your cheek when you suggested the best team you have watched was the Hungarian side that beat Brazil in 1966. They kicked Brazil off the park and, if memory serves me correctly, Pele was carried off. Now if you had suggested the Hungarian side that came to Wembley and wiped the floor with England with Puskas and his team mates, I might have agreed.

My favourite team of all time was the Brazilian team of 1970 they played a brand of football that the world hadn't seen before. All 10 outfield players were magical to watch.

They are such original spellings, I thought I'd leave them for everyone's enjoyment.

Interestingly on the web there is/was a poll about the best 100 midfield players of all time, Bally isn't in it. Such greats as Billy Bremner and Greame Sourness are!!! I'd put Bally in the top 5 and only out the top 3 because he had off years.

I think Lothar Mateus was top. Hardly ever saw him.

Biggest disappointment was missing Pele. He was injured in a very physical game against Portugal a few delays earlier. I saw him around 1972 when Aston Villa played Santos, but it was a friendly game and not the same.

Brazil in 1970 was a great team. I also liked Holland in 1974 with Rinus Michels and Total football, where it seemed like every outfield player could play every position. I think Rinus Michels had been the Ajax manager when they beat Liverpool 5-1 in the European Cup. Blues fans had a lot of fun with that "Ajax washes away scum" to paraphrase a well known commercial.

I think Sheedy is the only 84-85 player who would have got in the 69-70 team, because his otherworldly left foot was one of the very few things that they did not already have.

Also, it is essential to remember that the whole image of our club was grander in 1970. We were arguably the biggest of the four undisputed "big" clubs at the time (with Man Utd, Arsenal, and Liverpool), the Mersey Millionaires, and we played in what was widely viewed as the country's best club stadium, a magnificent cathedral of the game.

By 1985, after a decade or so of domination by the noisy neighbours, we were very clearly not the "biggest" club, and Everton had more the feel of a bunch of scrappy (if very talented) underdogs, not the smooth, almost effortlessly superior Rolls-Royce of a team that we were in 1970. But perhaps my glasses are just a little too rose-tinted. Wish I could have seen the 62-63 outfit.

However, my earliest Goodison recollections are as a ten year old boy, of the '63 Championship side. I remember them well, some wonderful players, but at that age, my football knowledge was still rather formative. I didn't see enough of Young, his blistered feet caused him to miss a lot of games! But he had dazzling skills make no mistake.

The '70 side played brilliant precise football. One intriguing contest that stays in my mind was at Goodison against Moenchangladbach in the European Cup. Their captain was a fella called Gunter Netzer, he was their playmaker, long blonde hair, loping casual stride, spraying 40-50 yard pinpoint accurate passes all over the park. While we had just the opposite in Ball, Kendall and Harvey, playing quick one-two's, 'gymnasium' style football, with passes rarely going more than 15 yards at breakneck speed. The end product invariably being, to get it out to 'Moggsy' on the wing, where he would get to the bye-line and supply the ammo for 'Big Joe' to score. Simple, but extremely effective. Ball himself had a wonderful strike rate for a midfielder. Needless to say we beat the Germans in a thrilling encounter, winning on penalties after extra time.

I truly feel for the younger Blues, some who have never seen one great side, let alone the three great teams that I have been blessed with witnessing over the years. As this post is about the greatest Everton team, rather than individual players, I must conclude that the '85 team was the greatest of all. It was simply a perfectly balanced side. A well oiled machine with top quality components, all completely compatible to each other. They were a joy to watch. I truly believe we could have beaten anyone in the world at that time with that team. That's how good they were.

I stress that their success was down to a TEAM effort. We brought Lineker in and changed the style of play to suit him. Personally I didn't like the more direct approach, we didn't look like 'Brazil' any more! But to be fair, it worked, even if sadly it was short lived. Lineker's goal record tally spoke for itself. He was a devastatingly good centre forward, probably my favourite in a blue shirt.

But before he arrived we had the greatest team. That fabulous all conquering 'Class of '85'.

Winning the title in 86-87 was a remarkable achievement with such a spate of injuries and a real make-do-and-mend approach. I do not agree with those who argue that Lineker ruined out passing style – we could and should have adjusted (as could have he) and I think we missed him in the long-term after he left. That said, I can understand that his head would have been turned by the lure of Barcelona and regular European football.

Our failure to reinforce with top-quality players in the summer of '86 (Dave Watson aside) and, more so, in the summer of '87 hurt us. Liverpool went and got Barnes, Beardsley, and Aldridge etc. and the rest is history.