Everton: Ten best post war players part 2

Today I’m continuing the series charting my pick of the ten best players to have played for Everton since the end of the Second World War.

Having looked at two stars of the sixties, Brian Labone and Alan Ball, who helped Everton win league titles and the FA Cup, I’m moving onto my third and fourth choices today.

After a successful 1960’s, in which the Toffees had re-established themselves as one of England’s top clubs, the Seventies were to prove a barren decade in terms of trophies.

There were a few highlights, although these were fleeting moments in a ten years that was frustrating and a story of huge under achievement.

The only significant moment really was Everton reaching the League Cup final for the first time in 1977, losing to Aston Villa after two replays, (ah for the long gone days of cup final replays!).

What made this decade even worse was that the old enemy across Stanley Park were really getting into their stride and starting what would become a fifteen year period of success.

Managers came and went, Gordon Lee coming closest to bringing silverware back to Goodison Park with that League Cup final. Eventually, after the Toffees finished third and then fourth, they fell to 19th in 1979-80 and were nearly relegated. Lee was finally sacked in 1981 and ex-player Howard Kendall became Blues boss.

Kendall was a popular choice as a former member of that fabled midfield trio, Kendall, Harvey, Ball, and there were hopes that at last he could reinvigorate Everton’s fortunes.

But it didn’t work out to begin with and despite his best efforts, the Blues continued to struggle in the early eighties while to rub salt into the wounds, Liverpool were winning literally everything.

He did though inherit one player who would go on to become a top player, a young Scottish centre-forward called Graeme Sharp.

Sharp had been signed by Lee from Dumbarton in 1980 and having arrived on Merseyside, had found himself spending most of his time in the reserves. This continued at first under Kendall and the young Scot was getting frustrated at his lack of first-team opportunities.

There were brief moments where his latent talent was displayed. In 1982 in a rare chance in the team, Sharp scored the goal of the season, a superb volley from the edge of the area, against Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park.

By the start of the 1983-84 season, Sharp was a regular in Kendall’s team but the Blues still seemed a million miles away from success even though they were finishing in the top ten.

At the turn of the year, it seemed Everton were facing another barren season as the team laboured once again in the bottom half of the table.

The turning point has been discussed many times before. Many think it was a Milk Cup tie, (as the League Cup was then called), at Oxford United in January. The Toffees were 1-0 down and going out of the competition before Adrian Heath scored a late equaliser.

Everton won the replay and went on a great run which took them to Wembley twice, as the team reached the Milk Cup and FA Cup finals. Despite defeat to Liverpool in the Milk Cup final after a replay, as we all know the Toffees won the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over Watford, with Sharp scoring the first goal.

So season 1984-85 was the test. Could Everton finally step up and make a stab at the first division championship at long last?

For Sharp too this season was a defining one in his career. He was becoming a complete centre-forward with pace, strength in the air, good at holding the ball up and a superb finisher. He was also starting to develop a great understanding with Heath up front. The question was could he fire the goals to take Everton to the title?

Sharp scored again at Wembley as the Blues beat Liverpool 1-0 in the Charity Shield, the traditional season curtain-raiser, in August. And despite an opening day defeat to Spurs at Goodison, the Toffees were soon into their stride and wining games.

Then in October came a series of huge games. Sharp was enjoying a fine campaign and scoring goals regularly as Everton travelled down the road to Liverpool for the first derby of the campaign.

As we know the Scot scored a stupendous goal as the Blues won at Anfield for the first time in years. This goal was a trademark Sharp finish, proving that he was perhaps more a scorer of great goals rather than a great scorer of goals and it brought him another Goal of The Season award.

After the derby win, Manchester United came to Goodison Park and were demolished 5-0 with a neat Sharp back-header, the final goal that sealed the rout.

Then came an injury to Heath that many pundits thought would put paid to the Toffees title challenge as Sharp lost his striking partner for the season. Andy Gray came in and although on paper he didn’t seem an ideal partner for his fellow Scot, the two dovetailed very well.

Everton went on to win the league championship with a record points total and by a record margin as they finished a clear 13 points ahead of Liverpool. Sharp finished as the team’s top scorer with 21 league goals, which proved the best goal return of his career.

The next season Sharp had a new strike partner as the Blues signed Leicester City and England forward Gary Lineker.  The two were an immediate hit with Sharp playing as the target-man giving Lineker the chance to take on the job of primary goal scorer. They scored almost 60 goals as a partnership with Lineker getting 40 of them.

That campaign was ultimately a huge disappointment though as the Toffees finished runners-up in the League and FA Cup to Liverpool.

Sharp was part of another title success in 1986-’87 and continuing playing for the Blues throughout the eighties before moving to Oldham Athletic to finish his career.