'When I came back [to Everton] in 2002 I was a bit shocked at the way it had gone, from being a player in the early Eighties," Irvine says. "I played in the [1984] Milk Cup final at Wembley which was a draw and afterwards both teams walked round and the whole crowd sang 'Merseyside'. That was an awesome experience, absolutely incredible. My memories were of families walking down to the stadium, some in red, some in blue. Everybody outside the pubs drinking together, all mixed in. There was rivalry but it was friendly rivalry.
"Nowadays it's different and maybe it is just society that has changed. There was always a fierceness and bitterness when the Merseyside teams played the Manchester teams but not when we played each other. There was the intensity but there wasn't the bitterness that shocked me when I came back as a coach."
