This Week – 34 Years Ago

Nevin's book discusses in length how the side fell apart and it is an enlightening if alarming indictment of some of the heroes of the '80s Everton teams.

Cottee is not generally fondly remembered. He played in a side lacking fight. Incredible after how we'd been just a few years earlier. I can't provide stats to prove this but my memory of him is that he scored a lot of late equalisers, which was when, in desperation, we put the ball into the box after passing it around an increasingly inept midfield until we fell behind.

I believed then that a more direct approach from us would have benefitted his style of play. His equaliser in the 4-4 cup replay being an example of this.

He also mentioned how Sheedy would almost always ignore his runs to the near post and, instead, look for Sharpy at the far post. When questioned, Kevin said it was just habit having played with Sharp for so long and it certainly wasn't anything personal against Tony.

Imo, Cottee is harshly judged by many. Granted, he wasn't up the standard that the mid-80s team had set but he ended his career with a League record of 1 goal every 2.5 games!! That's some going by almost anyone's standard.

As the op mentioned, he was a 'streaky' striker who could easily score 4 in the 3 games then blank for 4/5 games before scoring 3 in the next 2. Personally, I think the Old Guard were living on past glories, especially Sharp, who contributed very little in his last 2 seasons with us.

And, I've always loved Cottee's goal away at Coventry in '88. A lovely stooping header at the far post. Nothing special, just something about it I've always liked.

Them shower had at least three frontmen who stood up, especially going all the way to extra time.

But in hindsight, Colin Harvey, the biggest Evertonian there is, was a superb coach but not a manager.

Cottee, who chose us over Arsenal, was no Graeme Sharp replacement.

McDonald was no Gary Stevens replacement.

McCall was not as good as Bracewell or Reid, even though I thought he was a decent, honest midfielder. Tough player, but lacked the on-the-ball quality Reid had.

And as delightful at times as he was to watch, Pat Nevin was never going to be a successor to Trevor Steven.

Blind optimism of the time but looking back, the start of the decline we are still suffering from. I guess those who witnessed the break up of the 69-70 team and failure to invest with equal or better can relate.

But we've reached another corner. Optimism tells me we go the right way this time.

Sadly, my memory only allows me to see the likes of Reid, Bracewell, Sharpe, Southall, Sheedy etc as crocks and has-beens. Sacrilege probably to older supporters. Cottee was a bright spark amongst that lot. Maybe McCall, too.

Whether that was an immature assessment I don't know but we were certainly on the slide by that stage.

There have only been a few moments of genuine optimism since then. The signing of Kanchelskis. The Martinez season etc.

Funnily enough I feel we could be on the brink of a breakthrough now if we stick with Lampard and handle the next few windows (alongside our academy) well.

If you'd have told me back then that, by the time I'm 48, we would win just one trophy after that last championship-winning season, I wouldn't have believed it.

If you then added that Liverpool would also struggle to win the league and win it just twice since (one of them during a worldwide pandemic) and Man City would be the best team in the land...

To think now that if Lampard got us a 4th-placed finish and an FA Cup final he'd be lauded.

In retrospect, Colin Harvey's managerial spell was the start of the decline. He signed some decent players but they weren't as good as the players they replaced.

I remember watching Arsenal destroy us that season at Goodison and a bloke I happened to be standing next to said "They're like we used to be".

Bill Kenwright might insist we've had some good times since but, from where we were in 1987, it is hard to accept our decline. Unfortunately, money plays such a role now that for us to be the best team in the land again seems as far off as it has ever done.

The club was complacent on and off the pitch. The lack of ambition in team building was matched by the strategic failure to develop the ground. We have yet to recover.

I was 16 in 1971, I was married with children and a mortgage when we at last won something after a (mere) 13-year gap, and a lot of mundane football in between times.

The implosion that engulfed us after the Heysel atrocity exemplified, again, the inability of those in charge of us to manage the real world they were in, just like in 1971 and beyond. Compared to the current crew, though, they look glitteringly successful.

Has any one spectacularly inept person been at the very heart of our club since the moment the Premier League was created 30 fucking mediocre (at best) years ago, I wonder?

Answers on a postcard please.

I've stated many times that we failed to invest and capitalise in 1987 despite the obvious European restrictions. It certainly didn't hamper Manchester United's strategic thinking or planning for the future.

For me that is when the real decline set in.

But in reality, I grew up throughout the '70s and we were on the back foot for most of that decade. The nearly men. So there is reality in what Don says that it began earlier.

It's just that we grasped that chance in the '80s, only 14 years since our previously last title win, but then failed to build on the opportunity we had.

And here we are, 27 years later and counting.

27/35

6 points in the bag, new striker looking top notch so what could go wrong? Well in reality, apart from Joe Royle's amazing effort, very little had gone right so, just like our present board, we can only lay the blame at the board of that time for their lack of planning and professionalism.

We haven't been blessed in that area at all and it's amazing that we have stayed in the top flight.

Touch my head !

I was excited by our new signings this season, I can see them all on the cover of the match program. I knew little of McDonald at the time, but was excited by McCall and loved Nevin. I was in the Upper Gwladys Street stand that day and the atmosphere was electric.

I am pretty sure results went to shit very quickly after the Coventry game. I seem to recall a shocker at home to Luton, which I think we lost 0-2 and Nevin got injured, out for 3 months?

I do remember thinking at the time there was no togetherness about the team... which was clearly the case, knowing what has emerged from ex-players' books.

Our form was weird that season – I recall us smashing Southampton 4-1 at Goodison and we were superb... then I recall another game with Wimbledon, at Goodison, which was a draw but was more memorable because Vinny Jones butted Ratcliffe I think. It was an awful game, that… one of the worst I've ever seen.

Arsenal smashed us 1-3 at Goodison in the January and they were stunning to watch. Overall, I seem to recall us being relatively good at home that season, but dire away – a pattern that has continued to this day.

Beaten in the European Cup & RS semi-final in the same week. He told me we never really recovered except – the in mid-eighties... 💙💙💙💙

For me, Harvey was the natural choice to take over; however, it turned into a Brian Clough - Peter Taylor scenario: worked great together, not so when Taylor was not by his side.

The same can be said about Kendall, before Harvey joined him, and likewise when Kendall left, leaving just Harvey at the helm.

When Kendall left, that and making too many signings too quick, was the start of the downward slide. We brought in players and, for me, all bar Tony Cottee were nowhere near as good as the players they replaced.

I just think we tried to change things too quickly and never recovered.