Match Thread Aston Villa 0-1 Everton. Sunday 18th January 2026 @ 16:30

[Marcus Kendall]

Yeah,I remember he wasn’t too bothered about the result only that he’d notched,other than the 4-4 derby,he scored very few “crucial” goals,a lot of consolation goals in defeats or am I being harsh?

No you're spot on. He was my favourite player though but yeah he wasn't exactly a great team player and Graeme Sharp in his autobiography wasn't very complimentary towards him (nor Beagrie either!)

 

[Marcus Kendall]

The team/club was on a huge decline by then. Its crazy that we are here now talking about poor recruitment. Back in 87 and 88 liverpool went out and bought john barnes peter beardsley and ray houghton. We bought cottee. Stuart McCall, pat nevin and neil mcdonald. Neil mcdonald lol. Went from Gary stevens to mcdonald.
They wernt bad players. But they were not title challenging players either.

Yeah we messed up badly with the recruitment. I remember we signed Cottee for a transfer record and after he scored a hattrick on debut he didn't ever look like repaying the transfer fee. To be fair we didn't have a great manager either as Harvey wasn't suited to the hot seat despite being a brilliant coach on the training field

 

[Marcus Kendall]

Can’t recall Inchy,you may be right,I do remember him scoring for City at Maine Road in front of us and celebrated,he got dogs abuse off the Evertonians that day!!!

I recall Ian Olney absolutely doing us that match despite being an ordinary footballer who hit a purple patch around that time

 

[Gilbert..]

Yeah we messed up badly with the recruitment. I remember we signed Cottee for a transfer record and after he scored a hattrick on debut he didn't ever look like repaying the transfer fee. To be fair we didn't have a great manager either as Harvey wasn't suited to the hot seat despite being a brilliant coach on the training field

It is mad how quickly it dropped considering we were champions the season before. But the title winning players and manager went very quickly. Few still here but the bulk had gone.
Saw cottee in a interview on a west ham fan channel discussing his signing for Everton. He absolutely bigged Everton up as a club btw in front of about 200 west ham fans. Ive never heard him say a bad word about Everton.
But the signing. He said he met George Graham and asked him why do you want to sign me George for Arsenal. Graham replied when we lose the ball i want you to close down their fullback.
He then met Colin Harvey and asked the same question. Harvey replied i want you to score 20 goals for the club and be the leagues top scorer.
Cottee said thats what made him choose Everton over Arsenal. Everyone thought being a london boy he'd go to Arsenal. But George Graham put him right off. He was a goalscorer and Harvey sold Everton to him.

 

[Marcus Kendall]

It is mad how quickly it dropped considering we were champions the season before. But the title winning players and manager went very quickly. Few still here but the bulk had gone.
Saw cottee in a interview on a west ham fan channel discussing his signing for Everton. He absolutely bigged Everton up as a club btw in front of about 200 west ham fans. Ive never heard him say a bad word about Everton.
But the signing. He said he met George Graham and asked him why do you want to sign me George for Arsenal. Graham replied when we lose the ball i want you to close down their fullback.
He then met Colin Harvey and asked the same question. Harvey replied i want you to score 20 goals for the club and be the leagues top scorer.
Cottee said thats what made him choose Everton over Arsenal. Everyone thought being a london boy he'd go to Arsenal. But George Graham put him right off. He was a goalscorer and Harvey sold Everton to him.

Great read that was Gilbert especially the part about why he chose us over Arsenal. As I said Harvey was brilliant on the training pitch and was a massive reason for our success under Kendall but a bit like Roy Evans he wasn't suited to management for whatever reason. I think with the recruitment we brought in talented players but not ones with champions mentality as the likes of Cottee, Nevin and Beagrie were fair-weather types you couldn't rely on when times got tough not to mention they were wildly inconsistent too

 

[Drico]

The team/club was on a huge decline by then. Its crazy that we are here now talking about poor recruitment. Back in 87 and 88 liverpool went out and bought john barnes peter beardsley and ray houghton. We bought cottee. Stuart McCall, pat nevin and neil mcdonald. Neil mcdonald lol. Went from Gary stevens to mcdonald.
They wernt bad players. But they were not title challenging players either.

They won that league simply on recruitment. Barnes, Beardsley, and Houghton. Fantastic players. They bought John Aldridge that January - five months before selling Ian Rush. Planning. Execution. Brilliant judgment.

We bought Tony Cottee - a very good player, with a very good goalscoring record (99 for us, amazingly). But we paid top dollar for him. Pat Nevin was also a very good player, but he was no John Barnes or Trevor Steven. We bought nobody who could match Ray Houghton's clever industry or Peter Beardsley's guile.

 

[Bedfordblue]

It is mad how quickly it dropped considering we were champions the season before. But the title winning players and manager went very quickly. Few still here but the bulk had gone.
Saw cottee in a interview on a west ham fan channel discussing his signing for Everton. He absolutely bigged Everton up as a club btw in front of about 200 west ham fans. Ive never heard him say a bad word about Everton.
But the signing. He said he met George Graham and asked him why do you want to sign me George for Arsenal. Graham replied when we lose the ball i want you to close down their fullback.
He then met Colin Harvey and asked the same question. Harvey replied i want you to score 20 goals for the club and be the leagues top scorer.
Cottee said thats what made him choose Everton over Arsenal. Everyone thought being a london boy he'd go to Arsenal. But George Graham put him right off. He was a goalscorer and Harvey sold Everton to him.

Wouldn’t mind someone with Cottee’s goal scoring record these days tbf….
While he might have been the most expensive transfer between English’s teams or whatever, European clubs were paying significantly more (% wise) for the real cream of English / British forwards back then.

 

[Marcus Kendall]

They won that league simply on recruitment. Barnes, Beardsley, and Houghton. Fantastic players. They bought John Aldridge that January - five months before selling Ian Rush. Planning. Execution. Brilliant judgment.

We bought Tony Cottee - a very good player, with a very good goalscoring record (99 for us, amazingly). But we paid top dollar for him. Pat Nevin was also a very good player, but he was no John Barnes or Trevor Steven. We bought nobody who could match Ray Houghton's clever industry or Peter Beardsley's guile.

Spot on Drico. You also had a very talented and well organised Arsenal team at the time breaking through too

 

[chicoazul]

Defo getting beat in this one and the forum will be a super spicy delight. The Moyes h8rz will up the ante for his head immediately. Will be about to the heads of the super bloos, angriest and the tactics nerdz.

 

[Drico]

Spot on Drico. You also had a very talented and well organised Arsenal team at the time breaking through too

Yes, a superb Arsenal team. George Graham was their Howard Kendall. His brown paper bag shenanigans dimmed his reputation, but his Arsenal side was spectacular defensively, AC Milan-level at the back. And they had very good players all over the pitch including a mature Kevin Richardson, another super Everton player we somehow allowed slip through our fingers...

 

[Marcus Kendall]

Yes, a superb Arsenal team. George Graham was their Howard Kendall. His brown paper bag shenanigans dimmed his reputation, but his Arsenal side was spectacular defensively, AC Milan-level at the back. And they had very good players all over the pitch including a mature Kevin Richardson, another super Everton player we somehow allowed slip through our fingers...

And who can ever forget the sheer joy they brought to us Evertonians on the final day and in the final minute at Anfield

 

[davids]

And who can ever forget the sheer joy they brought to us Evertonians on the final day and in the final minute at Anfield

Love to watch that at least once a year.

 

[Marcus Kendall]

Love to watch that at least once a year.

Just the once? It's up for grabs now! Classic commentary

 

[Drico]

And who can ever forget the sheer joy they brought to us Evertonians on the final day and in the final minute at Anfield

Indelible.

Graham was a brilliant manager, tactically astute, afraid of no one, could go head-to-head with Ferguson and Dalglish without fear or favour. As good an organiser as there has been, actually. Wenger's sides played more flamboyant football, but I'd sooner have Graham's play for my life. Give them a goal to hang on to and you could breathe easy.

 

[Drico]

Love to watch that at least once a year.

I have it recorded as a nice companion to the highlights of our glory years in the mid-80s.