That goal at Wembley- Graeme Sharp takes the blame

[Diego_Sideburns]

On the Everton OS Sharp has mixed memories of his time at Boundary Park and he confesses:

“We really should have won but Mark Hughes scored a last-minute equaliser for them, I remember on the day we were winning 1-0 and I had an opportunity from a corner in the last two minutes. I really should have done better but I hit the side-netting and before we knew it they had gone up the other end and Mark scored a fantastic volley to get them the replay."

 

http://www.evertonfc...-by-oldham-draw

[4oakslatic]

That match ruined my life.....there is nothing else to say

[oafcprozac]

On the Everton OS Sharp has mixed memories of his time at Boundary Park and he confesses:

“We really should have won but Mark Hughes scored a last-minute equaliser for them, I remember on the day we were winning 1-0 and I had an opportunity from a corner in the last two minutes. I really should have done better but I hit the side-netting and before we knew it they had gone up the other end and Mark scored a fantastic volley to get them the replay."

 

http://www.evertonfc...-by-oldham-draw

Says the same in his Autobiography Terry, as much as I hated his tenure as manager, Stott and Co really hung him out to dry. Stating one thing in public and grabbing every penny back they could in private. Stott, Hardy and Co should hang their heads in shame for running the club into the ground the way they did between 1994-2001, there was never any ambition simply the attitude of 'bugger me, Let's enjoy this before it goes tits up' during the good times. If only we'd had people at the club with vision. The squad that was relegated was more than good enough to go straight back up with one or two additions

[AndyGortonsMatches]

On the Everton OS Sharp has mixed memories of his time at Boundary Park and he confesses:

“We really should have won but Mark Hughes scored a last-minute equaliser for them, I remember on the day we were winning 1-0 and I had an opportunity from a corner in the last two minutes. I really should have done better but I hit the side-netting and before we knew it they had gone up the other end and Mark scored a fantastic volley to get them the replay."

 

http://www.evertonfc...-by-oldham-draw

 

It was a 2 yard sitter he missed, my Granny could have tapped that one in.

 

The rest was inevitable that day. Remember Stitch waiting to come on also to waste time and Big Joe held

the substitution back until we cleared the United attack..............

[Hands on]

So it was the miss that saw us relegated and not the Mark Hughes goal - I've been blaming him for what I've been watching for the last twenty years. Sorry Mark. Now Graham Sharp there was a player who just turned up for his pay cheque - did he explain that in his book.

[Tommy_Fent]

the downfall of the club from the mid-late 90s was more than just the result of one game. But that miss was criminal if anyone can remember it, I only remember it through a video of the highlights on YouTube

[losesome]

Nobody ever mentions it but on "that goal" Robson was offside.

wouldn't be offside today but then it was and he was a good yard off.

 

Still don't know why the linesman didn't flag but united have been getting decisions like that ever since.

[scorpiofc]

I was sat goal level at the end he missed! Always blamed him rather than Hughes for everything that followed. Such a quality striker and he missed a "sitter", no excuse.

 

To echo an earlier post, i was never the same after that game, 1st and only time I cried at a match (I was 15 at the time)

[Bertie_Dugger]

Nobody ever mentions it but on "that goal" Robson was offside.

wouldn't be offside today but then it was and he was a good yard off.

 

Still don't know why the linesman didn't flag but united have been getting decisions like that ever since.

 

 

The "offside" was proved by Andy Gray on Sky TV's Boot Room program days after the match. But it didn't get any more publicity than that.

[beag_teeets]

I was sat goal level at the end he missed! Always blamed him rather than Hughes for everything that followed. Such a quality striker and he missed a "sitter", no excuse.

 

To echo an earlier post, i was never the same after that game, 1st and only time I cried at a match (I was 15 at the time)

 

You must have been near me as I was pretty much level with the goal, I was convinced it was in until I realised it was side netting and the "how did he miss that" hit me.

 

He shouldn't have been manager as a result of that miss alone.

[whittles left foot]

That goal was on TV last weekend and it still cuts me like a knife when I see it. God it was a long journey home from Wembley that day.

 

Disagree about that not leading to relegation. The club wasn't the same after that game, knocked the stuffing out of the fans and the players.

[Markoasis]

“It will be the first time that I will have been back to Boundary Park since I left all those years ago. It will be interesting to see if there are many changes,” Sharp told evertontv

 

Wonder how long it takes him to realise a whole stand as vanished, apart from that I recon the ground hasn't change one bit (which is even more concerning)!!

[losesome]

That goal was on TV last weekend and it still cuts me like a knife when I see it. God it was a long journey home from Wembley that day.

 

Disagree about that not leading to relegation. The club wasn't the same after that game, knocked the stuffing out of the fans and the players.

 

Not only knocked the stuffing out of us but the biggest factor was the following week.

 

We should have played Spurs at home instead of the replay , at the time Spurs were on the worst run in their history , something like 7 or 8 straight defeats.

By the time we played them later they had picked up a bit and beat us at BP.

 

That one was hard to swallow and finished us off.

[palmer1]

we didnt win enough games over the course of the season thats why we went down

 

That goal knocked the stuffing out of us yes but it didnt relegate us, it stopped us from getting to a cup final and possibly Europe but it did not relegate us.

 

I have always blamed him for the whole thing and I do hate Hughes but if you want to be sensible he didnt relegate us did he?

 

Not even Sharps miss releagated us if you want to blame anyone blame Royle and the board at the time..........

 

Sharp and Hughes can kiss my arse though!

[Wardie]

Not only knocked the stuffing out of us but the biggest factor was the following week.

 

We should have played Spurs at home instead of the replay , at the time Spurs were on the worst run in their history , something like 7 or 8 straight defeats.

By the time we played them later they had picked up a bit and beat us at BP.

 

That one was hard to swallow and finished us off.

 

The Sharp miss was unbelievable, I was sat low down, almost on line with the goals and I thought that it had gone in.

I watched the game back on my recording, and pre-match, whilst Robson was walking alongside the fans, I am there with my face painted and hurling abuse at him!

 

I also remember the Spurs game, we lost 0-2, and wasn't there a mass brawl on the pitch?

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

I think it's a bit of a myth that Hughes' goal effectively saw us where we are today. It didn't. We had ample opportunity to get ourselves the single win we needed that season. But even if we had stayed up somehow, the Lees/Stott pennypinching would have seen us take the same path, probably a season or two later.

 

That Spurs game I think did have a brawl. Yorkshire Street was fun 'n' games after the game too.

[Diego_Sideburns]

It's said that time is a great healer, but the pain caused by that goal never seems to diminish. I'm sure many have wondered what would have happened had that shot not have gone in. Nick Hancock thought about it and included it in his book ' What Didn't Happen Next - Alternative History of Football'.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2013 by Diego_Sideburns

[oafcprozac]

That is superb, first time I've ever seen that.

 

 

If only......

[AndyGortonsMatches]

 

8:40

 

Sharpy's finest hour.

[Scapegoat]

I read with interest the view that the outcome of THAT game, and the manner of it, was not the reason we got relegated. And it is true that you get relegated after 40 games BUT the form of the team pre / post the FA Cup reply makes interesting reading.

 

10 games before: P10 W5 D3 L2 F17 A9 = 1.8 Pts per game

 

7 games after: P7 W0 D3 L4 F5 A12 PTS 3 = 0.4 Pts per game

 

One win from the 4 defeats would have probably been enough to keep us up. The form we were in prior to the FA Cuo semi-final would have seen us mid table in between Chelsea and Spurs. I really think that with the boost of beating Man Utd and an FA Cup Final on the horizon would have seen that form continue and we'd have stayed up and given Chelsea a good game in the Final.