Adrian Heath

Gilbert.. said:
Busy little player but he's always seems a bit of an outsider when you think of the great 80s side. I'll throw it out there. Would Everton have won what they did if he hadnt got injured. I dunno.
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We were top of the league when he got injured. I see no reason why we wouldn't have won it. His partnership with Sharp was, in my opinion, superior to that of Gray and Sharp. Andy couldn't get in the side.

Had he stayed fit, would we have bought Gary Lineker? I wonder. What we do know is Heath and Sharp reformed when Lineker went and won the league.

People go on about Southall's injury costing us the double in 86, but Mimms had loads of clean sheets. I contend that if Heath had been fit for 86, we would have won the league once more. Goals were more evenly spread around the team with him and Sharp up top.
 

Drico said:
We were top of the league when he got injured. I see no reason why we wouldn't have won it. His partnership with Sharp was, in my opinion, superior to that of Gray and Sharp. Andy couldn't get in the side.

Had he stayed fit, would we have bought Gary Lineker? I wonder. What we do know is Heath and Sharp reformed when Lineker went and won the league.

People go on about Southall's injury costing us the doube in 86, but Mimms had loads of clean sheets. I contend that if Heath had been fit for 86, we would have won the league once more. Goals were more evenly spread around the team with him and Sharp up top.
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Its always fascinated me if history could have changed with that sliding doors moment.
But he is without doubt a bit of an outsider because of it.
If you asked any Evertonian to name the great 80s side most would include gray/sharp.
I liked heath though.
 

Yup, was lucky enough to see him play!
Was at the game when Marwood “did” him with that shocking tackle, and it was immediately obvious that someone would sort Marwood out - step up Peter Reid!
I was also lucky enough to be at Oxford when Inchy latched on to Brock’s back pass, and Highbury when his header meant we were off to Wembley!
Cracking player who gave us some great memories!
 
Drico said:
We were top of the league when he got injured. I see no reason why we wouldn't have won it. His partnership with Sharp was, in my opinion, superior to that of Gray and Sharp. Andy couldn't get in the side.

Had he stayed fit, would we have bought Gary Lineker? I wonder. What we do know is Heath and Sharp reformed when Lineker went and won the league.

People go on about Southall's injury costing us the double in 86, but Mimms had loads of clean sheets. I contend that if Heath had been fit for 86, we would have won the league once more. Goals were more evenly spread around the team with him and Sharp up top.
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Adrian Heath actually played 24 league games and scored 10 goals in the 85/86 season…I think he came on as a sub in the Charity Shield when Lineker made his debut.

Those last 10 games when Mimms came in for Southall saw us win 6, draw 2 and lose 2.

Draws at United and Forest and which we should have won and defeats at Luton(Mimms first game) and the infamous Oxford game.

We should have won the league that year regardless of injury to Neville.

Adrian Heath was a wonderful player and I’m glad I saw him at his peak during his Everton career but he was desperately unlucky to get that injury when he did.
 

CrustySack said:
I was at the game he got injured. Didn't realise at the time it was bad. The injury was the worsed thing that could've happened at that time because he was flying and getting recognition.

I used to love watching Inchy and Tricky Trev do keep me ups together during the warm up. It was a regular thing at one point.
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I was at Lansdowne when Nev jumped for a ball and landed in a divot on a terrible surface.

Did it make a difference? On the face of it of course, because he was the best in the world at that time but as someone posted earlier , Bobby did well when he came in.

It was a sickener to be runners up to that mob in the League and the Cup. We had started so well in the Final and Grab the bar having a right go at Beglin when we were 1 up - I really thought we had them. Then, yet again a boyhood Evertonian broke my heart... Rush.
 
Bluerover said:
I was at Lansdowne when Nev jumped for a ball and landed in a divot on a terrible surface.

Did it make a difference? On the face of it of course, because he was the best in the world at that time but as someone posted earlier , Bobby did well when he came in.

It was a sickener to be runners up to that mob in the League and the Cup. We had started so well in the Final and Grab the bar having a right go at Beglin when we were 1 up - I really thought we had them. Then, yet again a boyhood Evertonian broke my heart... Rush.
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In my mind I always blamed Gary Stevens for that FA Cup final defeat. I'm sure he got done for at least 2 of the goals. I've never watched that game since so I could be wrong. We blew the league that year. I remember the last game at Goodison that year against Southampton when we all thought Liverpool were losing at Chelsea and the crowd was cheering only to find out it was false.

I often wonder if Heath had been partnering Sharp up front that season, would things had been different. It's all ifs and buts. At least we won the league the following season with Heath and Sharp up front.
 
My first favourite player when my Dad first started taking me to games. Still think of him is one of my favourite players ever. Gray obviously came in and did fantastic for us but Heath was great. I believe Lineker raved about playing with him too.
 

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