Graeme Sharp

(447 appearances, 159 goals)

‘There was a perfect long ball played over the top by Gary Stevens,’ recalls Graeme Sharp. ‘My first touch was good, and I was aware that Mark Lawrenson was chasing, and in a race, there was only going to be one winner and it wasn’t me. So, with the ball bouncing nicely in front of me, I just thought, why not have a go? Fortunately for me, and the side, it flew in.’

There is a glorious photograph from the Liverpool Echo that captures that strike. In it, Sharp is in the air, having just unleashed his half-volley. Behind him Mark Lawrenson watches, a slight look of apprehension in his face, as though at some level his brain has just begun to realise what is about to happen.

‘A little Blue corner of the Kop exploded in response to Sharpe’s volley sailing over Grobbelaar and flying into the back of the net’ says Phil Redmond, co-founder of When Skies Are Grey, ‘and what a way to go ahead in such a game. Our corner was rocking. It’s the kind of goal you never forget. The moment it burst into the back of the net is seared into my memory.’

It was the moment that won the game, a victory that first suggested to the football world that Howard Kendall’s young Everton side might have what it takes to go all the way. The goal gave Everton their first win at Anfield since 1970, an end to the 14-year drought. It was also their first victory over Liverpool since the ‘Andy King Derby’ of October 1978.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Everton had developed something of an inferiority complex in their attitude to their neighbours. The Derby, and particularly the Anfield Derby, had become a seasonal marker of the power balance in the city. It was as though until Everton could go there and win, the club would remain cowed, unable to break free from the neighbour’s shadow.

Back in 1984, for the first time in a very long time, even amongst Evertonians, that most pessimistic of constituents, there was a feeling that this might, at last, be the time when the curse was lifted.

‘We had gone to their place that day feeling more confident that we had for some time’ explains lifelong Blue, John Flaherty. ‘On the back of the FA Cup win in the May of that year, Everton had started the season brightly and for the first time in ages, we might have even been slight favourites going into that fixture.’

Certainly, they played like the favourites, confidently taking the game to Liverpool. But for all Everton’s dominance in the first half, the goal would not come. What was needed was a moment of magic. And it arrived long after the break, courtesy of Everton’s Scottish “Number 9”.

‘When you look back in that glory age in the mid-1980s’ says Phil Redmond, ‘certain goals always stand out; Stevens against Bayern, Gray in the FA Cup final against Watford, Inchy against Saints in the 84 FA semi-final. Sharp’s is also one of those. Not only was it a brilliant goal, it also became an iconic strike because of what it represented. It meant that we had finally arrived.’

By that point it had been four years since Sharp had come to Goodison, signed from Dumbarton by Gordon Lee in 1980.

He’d been born in Glasgow and like most boys from the area, had fallen in love with the game from a young age.

There’s a great story from Sharp’s early days that gave an insight into his competitive and tenacious character. While playing for his local Boys Brigade team, they found themselves 9-0 down and putting in a decidedly anaemic performance. Furious by his side’s indifference to the ninth goal conceded, Sharp took the kick off, dribbled through his own side and slammed in the tenth goal of the game through his own net, carrying on afterwards towards the changing rooms. For his efforts, he got a three-game suspension and time to reflect that there might be a better way to channel that competitive hunger.

From the Boys Brigade, he progressed to the school team and then onto Eastercraigs, one of the best amateur clubs around Glasgow. Modestly, Sharp had never considered himself anything special and yet, as time passed, his obvious talents began to prick the interest of professional clubs and at the age of 17 he got picked up by Dumbarton, signing on as a part-time professional.

At Boghead Park, Sharp developed into a promising young forward. Inevitably, he began to attract attention from south of the border, with a number of teams, including Notts County, Arsenal and Manchester United taking an interest in the young Scot.

Ironically, he also had two separate Andy Gray linked rumours during this time, once being considered by Aston Villa as a replacement for the recently sold Gray and then later looked at by Wolves as an understudy for his future teammate.

In the summer of 1980, despite being heavily linked with Villa again, and the club understanding that a deal was in the offing, Everton swooped in at the last minute and pipped their Midlands rivals to the signing.

It was one of those ‘sliding doors’ moments at Everton, as Gordon Lee, manager at the time revealed to ToffeeWeb a few years ago.

‘I remember at Everton I was looking for a second striker to play with Bob Latchford, and I went to watch Chester Reserves and a young boy called Ian Rush playing as an attacking midfielder.

The next night, I was at Dumbarton and saw a raw striker called Graeme Sharpe. I went back to the chairman and told him that, paired together, they could be one of the most exciting partnerships in English football. Chester wanted £300,000 for Rush, so I signed Graeme for £80,000 because the board said I couldn’t have them both.’

But despite missing out on one of the great ‘what if?’ partnerships in English football, Everton had still landed a young player with enormous potential.

‘And yet, early on, Sharp unquestionably struggled. In those early seasons, he only performed well in snatches,’ recalls Phil Redmond. ‘Although he clearly had talent, he seemed to find it hard to get into the rhythm of English football. It probably didn’t help matters that under Lee and then early on under Kendall, the team wasn’t playing well. It’s always harder for younger players to break through into a side that struggles. It took quite a while to see the best of Sharpy.’

During the 1982/83 season, Sharp first began to give a hint of what was to come, finishing that campaign’s top scorer with 15 goals.

‘There’s some similarities with Dominic Calvert Lewin today’ says lifelong Blue, Phil McMullen. ‘Like him, Sharp was a young player who took his time to find his feet and then gradually started to build confidence and knowhow to become something a lot more threatening. They even play a similar way too. Great in the air, surprisingly deft with their feet and willing to run hard for the team, leading from the front.’

Even with his improved form, Sharp was still in a struggling side, something that didn’t change until around a half way through the 1983/84 campaign. Although the Scot put in plenty of hard work himself, he unquestionably benefited from wider changes affecting the team, including the promotion of the highly rated youth-team coach, Colin Harvey, to the first team, the return to fitness and form of  Peter Reid, and Neville Southall, recently returned from a spell on loan at Port Vale, beginning to show the keeping ability that he would go on to become famous for.

‘It all combined to get the best out of Sharpy’, recalls Andy Costigan of Grand Old Team. ‘He became integral to those great sides of the mid-1980s. Sharpy was a playmaking centre-forward in my memory, tougher than he appeared and at times, unplayable in the air and no slouch with his feet too. He was a constant goal threat and I can only imagine opposition defenders had nightmares about playing against him. What Sharpy lacked in finesse he more than made up for with a dogged determination and his ability to lead the line with different players around him – he was adaptable.’

In the second half of the 1983/84 season, Everton’s form improved massively, with only four defeats after the new year. It was a run that included appearances in both domestic cup finals. For Sharp, the FA Cup final against Watford in particular, would prove to be a truly memorable day.

‘Your first cup win always means the most. It’s what you dream of when you start playing. And after the heartbreak of losing the League Cup final to Liverpool after a replay, the hunger for that trophy had only increased. To score the opening goal was a dream come true. I remember, the ball fell to Gary Stevens outside of the box and he had a go on goal. The shot was off target, but, luckily for me, the ball came my way about ten yards out. I was able to control it and put the ball past their keeper. I remember the Blue half of Wembley just exploding!’

Everton would end up 2-0 victors that day, bringing home the club’s first piece of silverware since the 1970 league title. It was the kind of tangible success that laid the foundations for what was to come.

‘Once you’ve won one trophy then you start to get the habit. And with the players we had in that team, and the management, we had the tools to feed that habit’, says Sharp.

In the season that followed, one in which Everton were imperious, Sharp led the line impeccably, scoring 30 goals across 55 appearances.

‘He was consistently good’, says Phil Redmond. ‘First with Heath as his partner up front and then after Inchy got injured, with Andy Gray. He adapted his game accordingly, always working hard for the team and providing important goals.’

Goals, such as that one at Anfield. Although, as impressive as it was, according to Sharp, he cannot take all the credit for the strike: ‘Liverpool used to use Adidas Tango balls in their games. So, the week before, Howard had us training with them. And I think that little bit of practice gave me a feel for them and helped with the goal. I might not have struck the ball so cleanly without that little bit of forethought from Howard. But he was always like that, thinking about what could give us the edge in games.’

It was a goal that lit the touch-paper for a memorable season, one that would end with the title and the Cup Winners Cup.

‘That was a fantastic side’, Sharp recalls. ‘Although we all had talent and we had a great set up with Howard and Colin, it also helped that we got on with each other on and off the pitch.  There was a great camaraderie in the dressing room. So, you had a group of players, (including those who didn’t always feature in the starting eleven) who wanted to fight for each other and fight for the shirt. And when you have that, combined with quality, then you are always in with a chance.’

As great as those sides of the mid-1980s were, they were nearly so much better. In the 1984/5 season, the club just missed out on an historic treble after losing the FA Cup final to Manchester United. In the following season, this time with Gary Lineker partnering Sharp up-front, the club was pipped to the double by Liverpool.

‘That side, with Sharp and Lineker up front was one of the great Everton teams. In any other season, it would’ve brought home silverware. I remember at the time that most people in the game thought we were the better team and Liverpool had been lucky to get the better of us twice. And although Lineker tended to generate the headlines, because he scored so freely, you can’t ignore Sharp’s contribution. Not only did he contribute with goals of his own, he also worked tirelessly for the team. I think when you have a front pairing that score over 60 goals between them over the season, you can see what a great partnership that was’, says John Flaherty.

Regardless of the great football on offer, that was a frustrating time to be an Evertonian. Not only had one of the club’s greatest sides been denied the opportunity to compete in Europe (following the post-Heysel ban) but it had watched on helplessly as its nearest rival brought home the silverware that could, and possibly should, have been Everton’s.

‘And so, after those near misses, and the frustration felt by the fans after the ban, in the 1986/7 season we were really fired up to claim some more silverware’, remembers Sharp.

Despite the quality in the team, it would end up proving to be a much tougher prospect for Everton than in recent seasons. Not only had Lineker parted company with the club, sold to Barcelona in the summer, the squad was blighted by injuries all season.

‘It might not have been as swashbuckling as 1984/85, but in some ways the 1986/87 title win was more impressive. Against the odds and often with a patched-up side, we triumphed’, remembers Sharp.

‘A squad effort is harder to pull off’ he continues ‘And so, the way that Howard brought players in and chopped and changed the side in response to adversity just showed what a great manager he was.’

But he was also a manager about to sever his links with the club (for the time being at least). That title win proved to be the swansong of the Kendall-era Mark I. The desire to manage a side capable of playing in Europe, forced him to look elsewhere, ultimately resulting in a move to Athletic Bilbao in Spain.

In his place, first team coach, Colin Harvey came in to take charge of the reigns. For Everton, and Sharp, things were never as great again. The loss of Kendall set in motion a slow decline at Goodison as the club struggled with the transition. Not only did the new players brought in often not meet the standard of the great sides of the mid-1980s, but Harvey found it difficult to bring unity to the squad. In the end, he found himself ruling over two camps, made up of the new arrivals and the Kendall old-guard. Inevitably it was not a recipe for success.

Although under Harvey, Sharp’s contribution each season started to gradually decline, he still had it in him to bring moments of magic to Everton’s games, as Andy Costigan recalls:

‘One abiding memory of Sharpy came on a freezing cold November game at Fratton Park against Alan Balls’ Portsmouth. It was absolutely bitter and a dour, dour game that saw seven yellow cards and two red, both for Pompey, with the only illuminating moment coming late in the game. Sharpy struck a volley of venomous power from just outside the box that flew into the top corner like an Exocet missile. The Anfield volley gets all the plaudits, but that Fratton Park effort was every bit as good and made that long journey all the more worthwhile.’

But over time, even the moments of magic began to dry up. By the time Harvey was sacked in 1990, replaced by a returning Kendall, the once towering Scot, now pushing 30, was not the force he had been.

‘Sharp in particular is the picture of what is wrong with Everton,’ wrote Dave Jones in When Skies Are Grey. ‘The way he ambles across the pitch, doing practically nothing all game, and he still gets picked every week.’

Although he was widely regarded as one of the club’s great centre forwards, when Sharp was sold to Oldham Athletic for £500,000 in 1991, most Blues fans saw it as good business. And he proved a decent acquisition for the Latics. In his first season at Boundary Park, his 16 goals enabled Oldham to survive the 1991/92 campaign, meaning that they would be members of the new Premier League.  In the following season, his goals once again helped them avoid relegation, this time on goal difference.

When Latics boss, Joe Royle quit as Oldham manager to come to Everton in November 1994, Sharp took over as player-manager at Boundary Park, guiding them to a mid-table finish in the second tier. It was a disappointing showing for a side who had retained all but one of their key players from the squad that had been relegated from the Premier League. Further disappointment came in 1995/96 when Oldham finished 18th. Under pressure, Sharp finally walked in March of 1997 with Oldham on the verge of their imminent relegation to the third tier.

After OIdham, Sharp enjoyed a brief dalliance as manager of Bangor City in the League of Wales for one season, where he led the club to a Welsh Cup victory in May 1998. It was a win that brought a close to his managerial career. Since then he has come back to Goodison, working as a club ambassador and now as the club’s first ‘Players’ Life President’.

‘He’s one of those figures who had become synonymous with the club’ says lifelong Blue, John Daley. ‘He’s effectively given most of his life to Everton, both professionally and after retirement from the game. But as valuable as his work is off the pitch, we’ll always love him most for what he did on it. He led the line during the Golden Age. And he scored massively important goals. I think I’ll always picture him mid-volley against the Shite at their place in ‘84. It’s honestly one of my favourite memories as a Blue.’

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