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My chairman pushed me out to join Liverpool - I didn't want to sign and was tapped up by Everton
Everton legend Kevin Sheedy made a bold transfer across Stanley Park in 1982, but reveals he never actually wanted to join Liverpool in the first place. The Republic of Ireland international would go on to become widely regarded as possessing the greatest left foot in Blues history, winning a brace of League Championships, while his goal against Rapid Vienna in Rotterdam sealed a 3-1 victory in the 1985 European Cup-Winners’ Cup final.
That strike was one of 97 for Everton from midfielder Sheedy – the 10 players who have netted more were all forwards – while one of his most memorable Merseyside Derby moments was delivering a cheeky two-fingered ‘salute’ to the Kop after his blockbuster free kick had fired the Blues level at Anfield in 1987. However, with his football journey in the city starting with the Reds, his story might have been quite different if he’d not made a huge decision when Howard Kendall came calling.
Speaking on the latest edition of Goodison Park: My Home, Sheedy revealed that he didn’t really want to join Liverpool in the first place but was pressured into making the decision. He told the ECHO: “I’d made my Hereford United debut at 16, I was playing in the first team and there was no speculation, I didn’t realise Liverpool were looking at me. I finished the season and a mate of mine got two tickets for the European Cup final, Liverpool against Brugge.
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“I went, not as a Liverpool supporter, as a football supporter, with the opportunity to see two top teams play, and I saw Kenny Dalglish score the winning goal, and more importantly for me, I saw the best midfield in Europe at the time: Ray Kennedy, Graeme Souness, Terry McDermott, and Jimmy Case. I travelled back to my parents’ pub and about two weeks later I got a phone call from Peter Hill, the Hereford United chairman, to say they’d accepted a £100,000 bid, and I was to travel up to Anfield to sign.
“There were no mobile phones in those days, no agents. I just travelled up with my mum and dad, and all the way up there I was thinking ‘I don’t really want to sign,’ because I’d witnessed the best midfield in Europe.
“Not that I didn’t have confidence in my ability, but I knew they weren’t ageing, they weren’t coming to the end of their careers. So, I got there, had a tour around Anfield, had a picture taken with the European Cup with my dad, and Bob Paisley.
“My chairman realised that I didn’t want to sign, but he pulled me to one side, it was in 1978, and he told me: ‘One hundred thousand pounds is a lot of money, if you don’t sign, Hereford might fold.’ He put a bit of a gun to my head, and I reluctantly signed a four-year contract.
“It didn’t work out. In the end, I had to leave to play first team football.
“But in my first day at training, I was getting changed next to Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen, they were great to me, as a young lad coming into a massive dressing room like that, with all those top players. Training with them, day in, day out, and playing with good players, it could only make you a better player.”
Sheedy had to wait two-and-a-half years to make his Liverpool debut, and would make just five appearances in all competitions for them, scoring twice. Therefore, by the time his deal was about to end, he was determined to be given a chance to show that he could cut it in top flight football, and Everton pounced.
The 65-year-old said: “So, even though I only made five appearances for Liverpool, I came out of it stronger mentally, and a far better player than when I went there, so I was ready. I was in digs in Elsie Road (off Anfield Road) and I used to go and watch Everton’s midweek games.
“I saw Graeme Sharp make his debut, Kevin Ratcliffe getting into the team, Adrian Heath signed from Stoke for £700,000, so I knew the side that Howard (Kendall) was putting together, the atmosphere was brilliant. When my contract finally ended at Liverpool, I got a phone call ahead of the last game of the season.
“Liverpool reserves were playing Preston, and a news reporter, Colin Wood from the Daily Mail. He rang the phone at the digs, I answered it, and he asked: ‘Would you like to sign for Everton?’
“I said, yes, I would. He said that Howard Kendall would ring me, and put the phone down, so I thought it was one of the lads, winding me up.
“I was a bit cautious, but then 30 seconds later, the phone went, and it was Howard. He said he was coming to watch me, and it was more or less, ‘show me what you can do,’ sort of thing.
“That’s what they called ‘tapping up,’ in those days, I suppose. It put a bit of pressure on me, knowing that a great manager was coming to watch me, but I must have done well because two weeks later I got a phone call to go and sign for Everton, and it was a really easy decision.”
Going on to make 369 appearances for the Blues, Sheedy would hit double figures in the scoring charts in half a dozen different seasons: 13 (1982/83); 10 (1983/84); 17 (1984/85); 16 (1986/87); 12 (1988/89); 13 (1989/90). While he insists it was a straightforward call from him to make the move, it was still a bold action given that nobody else had been transferred directly between the clubs for two decades – although David Johnson would follow him later that summer.
Sheedy said: “I was the second one. Johnny Morrissey was the first one, and over the years since, there have been loads who have gone across.
“But at that time, I realised Everton supporters would be thinking: ‘Well, if he’s not good enough for Liverpool, why should he be good enough for Everton,’ so I knew I had to hit the ground running. I did well in pre-season, got really fit, and in my first few games at Goodison I played really well and scored in one of my early games when Ray Clemence was in goal for Tottenham.
“I think I won the supporters over quite early, which was good and took the pressure off. I’ve not looked back since.”
Goodison Park: My Home episodes currently available to watch on YouTube are as follows
