Column

12comments  |  Jump to last
This article may have been recategorised and is therefore no longer available at this URL.

You can try to find the updated link in the article archive.

Share article:

Reader Comments (12)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer


Derek Thomas
1 Posted 24/06/2020 at 01:50:51
An epic tale well told. Mary Hopkin was right - those were the days, we'd fight and never lose and here we are, older but no wiser, waiting for lightning to strike twice.

Everton That.

Peter Rigby
2 Posted 27/06/2020 at 07:56:19
The smell of 5 drying out males in my car, with breath heavy from Eldreds finest mingling will be with me forever. But yes a great day
Andy McNabb
3 Posted 27/06/2020 at 08:21:57
A great account, Paul. Really enjoyed reading that.

At that time I was doing my teacher teaching in London. That resulted in me starting my teaching career in South London. No free tickets to give out but I was the "scasser" teacher which meant a few hairy moments.

That brought back some good memories - it really was the light after a long darkness.

Andy McNabb
4 Posted 27/06/2020 at 10:59:10
A great account, Paul. Really enjoyed reading that.

At that time I was doing my teacher teaching in London. That resulted in me starting my teaching career in South London. No free tickets to give out but I was the "scasser" teacher which meant a few hairy moments.

That brought back some good memories – it really was the light after a long darkness.

Dave Lynch
5 Posted 28/06/2020 at 17:27:04
I was at that game, I wore a thick wooly jumper with a roll neck.

By the end of the game I was that wet the sleeves where touching my knees.
What a day though.

Barry Rathbone
6 Posted 30/06/2020 at 20:45:32
I'd given up on Everton in the early 80s.

Moved to Worcestershire to forget about football and the pain of our transition into shite whilst the neighbours won everything.
I watched motd that night and Gray's header 6 inches off the ground amidst raucous Evertonians in full cry.

Pulled me right back in it did.

Tony Abrahams
7 Posted 30/06/2020 at 21:13:15
36 years later and you tell the story like it happened yesterday Paul! A great read and trip down memory lane, at a time when Everton came from nowhere.
Paul Jones
8 Posted 02/07/2020 at 16:49:03
At the time, I was based in London in my first year of a degree course at Polytechnic. So I travelled from South East London with fellow London Blues to Nottingham. There was also a large contingent of London fans from various parts of the British Isles, mainly Glasgow and Southern Ireland, who followed Everton together with Celtic.

It was in the days when the Southern and Manchester based media used to refer to us as the "team with no stars". Andy Gray was the only player we had that was widely known outside of the "football" fraternity, mainly due to his record transfer fee move to Wolves and Page 3 girlfriends.

The game has already been well documented, my abiding memory was travelling on "the ordinary" from the opposite direction with people who looked like they were going to a Smiths or Echo and the Bunnymen concert.

Eddie Dunn
9 Posted 03/07/2020 at 15:49:23
Paul, you either have a photographic memory or you have looked-up some history.

I went to that game, having finished at Trent Poly and got a job in Nottingham. I don't even remember it raining. I went to watch County now and again, and Forest.

I worked in a nightclub where mostly County players would show up. Brian Kilkline, and Rachid Harkouk were often to be seen. The latter I recall was a complete twat.

On the morning of the game, I watched Football Focus and the good old Beeb were concentrating on the chance of an upset. They interviewed a fat middle-aged man with a little Jack Russell. The dog had been to all the previous games, I think. The man was very confident and the emphasis was on an upset (even though County were a Division 1 side).

I was amazed at the header. Gray was as brave as they come. I walked back to town with a mate and we saw the fat bloke with his little dog. They looked crest-fallen. We had a good laugh about it on the way to Yates Wine Lodge.

Dave Long
10 Posted 05/07/2020 at 03:02:29
I was at 6th form in Maghull. Those were great days, we went from the Glenn Keeley derby to suddenly becoming unbeatable. There seemed to be loads more Everton bags carried to school. Remember enacting that Andy Gray goal in the common room. Bring back the glory days!
Phil (Kelsall) Roberts
11 Posted 05/07/2020 at 08:04:50
Andy Gray - the only man to score a half-volley header.

Now how can I get the video recorder wired up again?

Mike Corcoran
12 Posted 08/07/2020 at 18:02:58
I remember the soporific Coventry game. Me and my mates behind the Street End goal wondered if we could bring deckchairs next time because the crowds were getting so sparse. It was the free tickets for the paddock from our teacher Jerry Jones that had got us all going and hooked the year before. Mr Jones incidentally was a league and international ref, lovely fella.

Add Your Comments

In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.

» Log in now

Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.


About these ads

, placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails', target_type: 'mix' });