GRADING QATAR WORLD CUP 2022 KITS PART 2
Everton sit on top of the Premier League under Carlo Ancelotti after an unbeaten start to the season.
The financial realities of modern football, and the way they are skewed towards those who play Champions League football most seasons mean that not many give the Toffees much chance of staying there.
In the 1980s, it was different, as Howard Kendall’s legendary side found out.
Paul Bracewell has spoken to the Set Pieces about some of his memories of the side which won the title in 1985 and 1987.
(Ian Horrocks/Getty Images)
“The best way to sum it up is with the film we made recently, Howard’s Way. Everybody was on that film and everybody turned up at the showing.
“After 35 years to get that [turnout] shows what sort of group of people it was. After the FA Cup, we went on to win the Charity Shield and the rest is history.
“Once we’d had a taste of success, we wanted more. Day in day out, it was a fantastic team to play with and great lads as well. When you get that combination of people in the dressing room, it’s very very powerful.”
It’s a long time since Everton had a side capable of taking on the best in English football, and the aforementioned financial imbalance exacerbates that problem.
(Lynne Cameron/Getty Images)
But the early signs are that the current crop look closer to reaching those heights than any side since David Moyes’ fourth-placed finish in 2005.
Repeating that feat would be a great achievement this season, and shouldn’t be ruled out in a season which is hectic and frantic.
But ending that trophy drought which has run since 1995 would be massive, and Everton find themselves in the EFL Cup quarter-finals against Manchester United in December.
That might just give the 2020 team the taste for success they need, under a manager who has experienced plenty of it in his storied career.
