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Everton Bygones

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hallamblue said:
2 massive Evertonians together:p
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hated the Shanks until he fell out with the Red lot then i seen how funny he was - his house backed on to bellefield, in the old days of retirement he used to give my hero big Joe a chat on how to cope with his back injury - Joe noticed he had his dog on a lead all the time he visited the training ground and watch - Joe said taking it for a walk - Shanks no chance it has to P and S somewhere doesn't it with a wink!lol
 
davek said:
Alan Myers insider view of that day. What a horrendous occasion it was.

http://www.theblueroomefc.com/2017/02/22/alan-myers-coventry-98-day-forget-day-remember/
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I'll never forget that day Dave, I swear o god that the week building up to that fight brought on the duodenal,ulcers I have had ever since! I was permanently suffering with acid reflux and my head was ringing! A friend of mine who has. A medical background said he would have loved to have listened to my heart rate that week! We we scraped through I went to the toilet and barge, then I got a bottle,of Smirnoff out and got myself absolute cabbaged! Horrible times!
 

ToffeeDan said:
Certainly better than the real 1970s that's for sure.
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In that case I'll post part II just for you.

The Alternate Everton History Part II. by Rolant Ellis.

Lee's reign at Everton came to an end early in 1981, following Everton's elimination from the F. A. Cup by Blackburn Rovers of Division 2. The Blues appointed Rovers' manager Howard Kendall, a former Goodison Park favourite, to succeed Lee. Under Kendall, the team improved, finishing second in the League to Aston Villa.

In retrospect, it can be seen that Lee inherited an ageing, albeit talented, squad from Clough. Kendall was active in the transfer market in the summer of 1981, selling Latchford, Shilton and Todd, and bringing in youngsters such as Steven from Burnley, Heath from Stoke, as well as experienced campaigners such as Peter Reid and Andy Gray. The masterstroke, however, was the purchase of young Welsh goalkeeper Neville Southall from Bury for a fee of £100,000.



1982/83 season promised to be the most keenly-contested for many years, with Aston Villa, Ipswich, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, and Liverpool thought to have a good chance of winning honours. Kendall's Everton proved to be something of a surprise package, as it was thought that the season would be a matter of rebuilding, with honours perhaps coming later, but victory in the League Cup Final was a sign of things to come. Everton reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup, losing to Benfica 3 - 2 over two legs, and won the F. A. Cup again, defeating Spurs 3 - 1 in an exciting final. Heath, Reid and Gray scored for Everton, after Graham Souness had put Spurs ahead early on. This was some measure of revenge for Everton, who were pipped to the title by Spurs on goal difference.

Under Kendall, the team was a mixture of youth and experience, with home produced players like Stevens, Higgins, McMahon, Richardson and Ratcliffe joined by the experienced Reid, Gray and King, supplemented by astute purchases such as Sharp, Steven and Southall. Derek Mountfield and pat Van Den Hauwe joined Everton in the summer, and 1984/85 promised to be a memorable season for the Blues.


Kendall's Everton, strengthened by the addition of Paul Bracewell and Kevin Sheedy, became increasingly dominant in 1984/5, taking first spot in September and maintaining their lead for the rest of the season. The League Cup was won again, and the team marched on in the European Cup-Winners Cup, sweeping all opposition aside. They defeated Rapid Vienna in a one-sided Final, before facing Manchester United in the F. A. Cup Final three days later. It seemed that fatigue had caught up with the team when United went 2 - 0 up with goals from Dalglish and the Northern Ireland prodigy, Whiteside, but Adrian Heath pulled one back and a penalty five minutes from the end, converted by Sheedy, meant that the game went into extra time. Following thirty minutes of stalemate, and a number of near-miraculous saves by keeper Neville Southall, the final was replayed the following week, and this time goals by Sharp and Bracewell were enough to give the Cup to Everton, though Dalglish once again underscored his value to United with a goal in the dying seconds.

Everton, having won a domestic treble and the Cup-Winners Cup, seemed invincible, and were acknowledged as the dominant force in European football.



Hailed as having achieved the best season in English football history, Everton under Howard Kendall were strengthened by the arrival of Gary Lineker from Leicester City, and he quickly became a fans' favourite by scoring twice on his debut. By October he had already scored eleven goals, with Everton pulling away from their rivals. Kendall had stated that the European Cup was Everton's No. 1 target, and they defeated Anderlecht, Omonoia of Cyprys, then Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, they were well on the way to retaining their League title. They suffered an upset in the League Cup, unexpectedly losing to lower league side Wrexham, but they were probably consoled by having slightly fewer games to play. In the third round of the F. A. Cup, they crushed neighbours Liverpool 5 - 0, with Lineker scoring a hat-trick, then went on until Tottenham Hotspur beat them in the quarter-final with a goal by midfielder Souness, whose partnership with Glen Hoddle made Spurs the nearest team Everton had to a challenger.

Everton defeated Barcelona over two legs to reach the European Cup final, and confirmed their retention of the League title a week later. On May 7th 1986, Everton defeated Steaua Bucharest 4 - 1 with a fine display of attacking football to win the European Cup.

Gary Stevens, Trevor Steven, Peter Reid, Paul Bracewell, Adrian Heath and Gary Lineker were all in the England squad which reached the Semi-Final of the World Cup in Mexico that summer, Lineker winning the Golden Boot as the competition's top scorer.


Season 86/87 saw several players suffering a "hangover" from the Mexico World Cup, and Everton, being the club most strongly represented there, were particularly vulnerable. Peter Reid, who had suffered injuries throughout his career, was one who missed the entire first half of the season, but many of the other England stars also suffered from poor form or niggling injuries. Everton were unexpectedly eliminated from the European Cup by Dynamo Kiev, and were struggling to make headway in the League, until Kendall swooped to buy Newcastle United forward Peter Beardsley for a British record fee of £1.75M. Beardsley had formed an effective partnership with Lineker at international level, and this understanding developed even further at Goodison Park, Beardsley helping his new club to the F. A. Cup final victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

In the summer of 1987, Howard Kendall sensationally resigned as Everton manager, to take the reins at Barcelona. His replacement caused some surprise; rather than an experienced supremo like Venables or Atkinson, Everton opted for...

Well, who DID they appoint??

Part III to follow.
 
gonetomorrow said:
How interesting. I like the strong Scots connections.

They're all quite small in stature aren't they? The tallest is "big" Dan Doyle at 5'10 and half and the goalie's only 5'8.

It must have been the poor diet in those days. It's still bad in many parts.
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Little known fact about Dan Doyle is that on leaving Everton, as champion, he joined Celtic, and is regarded as their first ever real superstar, being the main draw for the crowd.

He might not have ever played for Everton or Celtic though, as he considered giving up the game altogether, after being involved in the death of a player while playing for Grimsby Town.

A lad I used to work with, his namesake, studied him for a while, there's a book out there somewhere.
 
summerisle said:
An interesting read about Tony Kay.

http://www.byfarthegreatestteam.com...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Crime and Punishment

Suddenly betting in football is a hot topic again this week. Firstly, Sutton United’s deputy goalkeeper Wayne Shaw has wrecked the integrity of the FA Cup by eating a pie. Secondly, Cowdenbeath player Dean Brett has been suspended after admitting betting on his own team to lose. And then there is the unresolved saga of Joey Barton and multiple bets he is alleged to have staked on a number of English and Scottish games.

The decision of Sutton United to ask for Wayne Shaw’s resignation has provoked a storm on social media, with many commentators calling for draconian action. However, others such as Piers Morgan, taking a break from haranguing Arsene on Twitter, have demanded that it be seen as a light hearted joke and nothing more and that football has lost its sense of humour.

However, a certain Tony Kay would have been watching these latest developments with interest. Let me explain.

The 1962/63 season was my first year of watching Everton and at the end of the season, we were league champions for the first time since 1939. Most Everton fans credited the signing the manager, Harry Catterick, had made in December as being the final piece in the jigsaw. He had swiftly become one of my dad’s favourite players, no mean feat, when the competition included Alex Young, Roy Vernon, Brian Labone and Gordon West. That man was Anthony (Tony) Kay.

During the close season, my Dad took me to Goodison Park to buy some programmes from one of the shops near the ground. As a treat, he bought me an autograph book. He challenged me to get an autograph. As we walked past the stadium, a car pulled up by the player’s entrance and a mad scrum of street urchins scrambled towards it. A player with striking red hair and sunglasses smiled as he signed the tens of autograph books thrust in front of him. One of them was mine. I had managed to get my first ever autograph. The illegible scrawl belonged to a certain Tony Kay.

Tony Kay only played for Everton for a period of seventeen months, from December 1962 until April 1964. Yet amongst Evertonians of a certain generation he is still regarded as one of the club’s best ever midfield players, which is some statement when the competition is the Holy Trinity of Ball, Kendall and Harvey. Next month, there is yet another event organised to celebrate his contribution to the proud history of Everton. Sadly, to most people however, he is remembered as one of the three players whose careers were ended due to the football bribery scandal, exposed by the Sunday People in April 1964.

Tony Kay was born in Sheffield and made his debut for Sheffield Wednesday in 1954 and went on to play 179 games for the Owls, scoring 10 goals. Kay was a part of the teams that won promotion to the top division on two occasions, in the 1955/56 and the 1958/59 seasons. They also finished runners up in Division One to Tottenham in 1960/61, their highest position since 1930. In fact if the manager Harry Catterick had not left for Everton in April, just before a crucial game with Tottenham, they may have just pipped them for the league.

At the age of 26, Tony Kay signed for Everton in December 1962 for a very substantial fee of £60,000, which at the time was a British record for a wing half. As he had already played for Harry Catterick when he was manager of Sheffield Wednesday, it was obvious that Harry saw him as the final piece in the jigsaw to mount a bid to win the league. It was no secret that Catterick wanted to sign his midfield general for Everton, it was also no secret that the Owls did not want to sell him. Eventually Catterick’s persistence and John Moore’s financial support enabled the deal to be completed. At the time, due to John Moore’s final backing, Everton had the moniker of the “Mersey Millionaires”

Due to the extreme winter conditions, fans at Goodison had to wait until February for their first glimpse of the new signing. Initially, Kay replaced crowd favourite Brian Harris as the left sided wing half, but with a combination of fierce tackling and an eye for a pass, he soon won the crowd over. Kay brought experience and leadership to the team and Catterick had bought a man he could trust to carry out his orders. The league championship after a gap of twenty four years was a fitting reward.

Life was looking good for Tony Kay in the summer of 1963. Many fans were expecting him to assume the captaincy of Everton. He had a European Cup campaign to look forward to. Everton were many pundits’ favourites to retain the title as Catterick added reinforcements to his squad. And Kay, received his first full international call up, being picked to play for England away in Switzerland. With the World Cup still three years away and with places up for grabs, Kay did himself no harm by scoring on his debut in an 8-1 victory. Kay is still one of the few players to have scored on their England debut and who were never to be selected again!

Early on during the 1963/64 season, Catterick replaced the experienced Roy Vernon as captain with Kay as Everton’s defence of the title started to stutter. Everton remained in with a chance of retaining the title until the events and revelations of April 1964 conspired against them and an action in which Everton had no direct involvement destroyed the season and Tony Kay’s career.

In April 1964, the Sunday People ran a sensational story which rocked the foundations of English League football. It alleged that it had evidence that certain top flight players had been bribed to lose matches. It was ready to reveal the names of those involved. Little did Everton or Tony Kay realise the impact that this was about to have and the effect it was to have on both of them.

Three Sheffield Wednesday players, Tony Kay, Bronco Layne and Peter Swan were found guilty of bribery and conspiring to fix a match. They had bet on their own team losing a game away to Ipswich. They each made £150 as part of the scam. However, in a bizarre twist of fate, the Sunday People which had exposed the scandal also had given Tony Kay their man of the match award for the game!

Tony and the others were not quite prepared for the severity of the punishment which the outraged FA was about to administer. Everton took the immediate step of suspending Kay from playing whilst the legal process ran its course. One year later in April 1965, the judgements were delivered.

Each player received a fine of £150 and four month prison sentence. However, worse was to follow as staggeringly they were banned from playing professional football sine die. In other words they could never play professional football again. At the age of 28, Tony Kay’s football career was over. All for the sake of a £150 bet. He never played professional football again. When the ban was eventually rescinded in 1974, Kay was too old to even consider a top level comeback after nine years out of the game.

Looking back, the harshness of the punishments meted out defies any sort of logic. Contrary to any form of natural justice, Tony Kay was punished three times for the same offence. Both Luke McCormick of Plymouth Argyle and Lee Hughes, ex-West Brom, were welcomed back into the games with open arms, despite their driving resulting in the deaths of innocent passengers and pedestrians. Tony Kay did not cause anybody to die.

A few years later, in the Bundesliga in West Germany, in 1971 a massive bribery scandal was exposed in which a number of players were players convicted of being paid substantial sums of money to lose matches. However, within three years they were back playing football again. If the FA had treated the case the same way, Kay could possibly have played for the Everton Championship winning side of 69/70

Of course Everton were the victims in this as well. They had paid £55,000 for someone who only played for the team for just under sixteen months and they were not entitled to any money back. Even worse, Everton were the completely innocent party in all of this. Kay was not even their player at the time of the offence. Kay had been vital to Catterick’s style of play. Catterick openly discussed the devastating effect this had on his plans for Everton’s development. Without him at the heart of the team, Everton would wait seven years for their next championship as another nearby recently promoted team started to gather momentum. Not for the first time in Everton’s history was a Championship winning side to be severely punished for the actions of other clubs.

Tony Kay is now seventy nine and one of the surviving members of that 1962/63 team. He has lived on Merseyside for the last decade and is supported by the excellent Everton Former Players Association. He also has a Twitter account @winghalf6 which post some fabulous photos from the football of the Sixties. It is well worth a look. He always responds to comments from supporters of both clubs. He often helps out at a local coffee shop in Southport which he has adorned with Everton memorabilia.

Amidst all the heated debate about the rights and wrongs of “piegate” and whatever punishment the FA decide to deliver to Wayne Shaw, I guarantee it will be nothing like as severe as the sanctions received by Tony Kay.
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He'd have got fined these days and that's it. Maybe a short ban.

Treated harshly was he.
 
degsy said:
In the summer of 1987, Howard Kendall sensationally resigned as Everton manager, to take the reins at Barcelona. His replacement caused some surprise; rather than an experienced supremo like Venables or Atkinson, Everton opted for...

Well, who DID they appoint??

Part III to follow.
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Not Kenny Dogs... surely not?
 

Bluebonic said:
I'll never forget that day Dave, I swear o god that the week building up to that fight brought on the duodenal,ulcers I have had ever since! I was permanently suffering with acid reflux and my head was ringing! A friend of mine who has. A medical background said he would have loved to have listened to my heart rate that week! We we scraped through I went to the toilet and barge, then I got a bottle,of Smirnoff out and got myself absolute cabbaged! Horrible times!
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Even before that, I remember coming out of the second to last home game when we were beaten by Sheff Wed and it hit me like a ton of bricks - suddenly realising we had two games left and we had Arsenal away next up (about to be crowned PL champions) and we were just two points ahead of Bolton who occupied third from bottom. Bolton had picked up some form (beating Villa that day and had already relegated Palace at home next match up). I felt for sure we would be relegated because although they had Chelsea away last game and we had Coventry at home, no one thought Chelsea would put the effort in, and even if they did we had to play a decent Coventry team who were higher up the table than Sheff Wed.

I still dont know how we stayed up. We looked a ramshackle relegation outfit and probably deserved the drop that season for the mess on and off the pitch.
 
I wasn't at either Wimbledon or Coventry but I'll wager nobody could match the sheer awful personal pain I went through on each occasion - not just the situation but not knowing what was happening. At least being there you could be part of it - maybe influence it even.

For Wimbledon I was stuck in the wilds of Cumbria on a "team building week" - you can imagine how I was feeling, the only Blue (coming from work "darn sarf" - just me and the radio..(lucky we had one of those)..

Coventry was even worse - I'd been on holiday in Italy and - before mobile phones were affordable I'd managed to get one phone call in from the airport (at which point we were winning 1-0) - and then not knowing for about 3 hours (until landing in England and phoning home) was sheer hell..

I can remember as a teenager (again, unable to attend) phoning Goodison for the "latest score" (on midweek games before Ceefax/Teletext when radio coverage could be minimal to none) and the club secretary used to man the phones "it's still 1 all" was a typical response.
 

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