You start the book off with your goal against Bayern Munich – one of the best moments of your life? It certainly was. You ask most Evertonians now and that’s one of the games they remember. When I looked at writing the book, I thought why not start with one of the most exciting games at Goodison for a long time, and we did do. You really summed up the camaraderie of the players well. I could sense the bonding in the team and the fun you had together. Yeah we did. It was important and Howard Kendall takes a lot of credit for that. He made sure we had a fantastic team spirit both on and off the field. It was great having bonding sessions, going to a Chinese restaurant or trips abroad. He always believed if you got on well outside the same would happen on the field and that’s what happened. Even now when we meet up after all these years, it’s still the same. It’s fantastic to be in the company of the lads. The book is called Sharpy, it’s got a great cover photo. Do you get embarrassed by those shorts now? Yeah! Very embarrassed! You signed for Everton, Gordon Lee signed you. You had a high opinion of Gordon didn’t you? | "We had a fantastic team spirit both on and off the field." | | Graeme Sharp |
Yes, Gordon was a great, he was like a father figure. He always made sure that the young lads at the club were getting properly looked after. He made sure that I was eating properly and all that. I still see Gordon now and again on the golf circuit and he’s a lovely man. Probably too nice to be a football manager. I was very fortunate to play with some fantastic players. When I first came into the dressing room at Everton, there was Bob Latchford, Mick Lyons, John Gidman – players I’d only read about. I was thinking ‘should I really be in the company of these people?’ Fortunately for me, it worked out. You have a great story in the book about Gary Stanley when Colin Harvey was in charge. Colin was very strict wasn’t he? Yes, Colin was very strict. We had a reserve game at Derby and we were winning 2-0 and Derby got into the game late on. Everyone saw Gary Stanley as male model material. We were in the dressing rooms afterwards and Colin was laying into us big time. We were scared to lift our heads up. The atmosphere was very tense, so we started to have showers. Then we heard Stanley’s cockney accent: “Does anybody have any conditioner?” Well, that was like a red rag to a bull. Colin flew in there saying “conditioner?!” Andy Gray certainly changed you, didn’t he? I think all of us fans noticed that.
 | | Graeme Sharp in the 1985 FA Cup final. |
I got on very well with Andy. He was one of my heroes when I was a young kid. He came into the dressing room and was a breath of fresh air. He instigated meeting up on a Sunday to talk about the match and have a few beers. He always used to say, we’re in a battle here. It was like World War III. It was a blow when he went, wasn’t it? I’ll always remember the day. He called me and said that he was going and I couldn’t believe it. The fans couldn’t believe it either and there were letters and petitions coming in. He wanted to stay. He was devastated at leaving the football club. Another thing you say in the book is that most supporters can name the team that won the league in 1985, but ask them to name the team that won in 1987 and it’s a lot more difficult. There are so many people we’ve forgotten. Yes, everyone played their part but I think the second championship season was more of a squad effort. I was injured for a long part and Paul Bracewell and Wayne Clarke and people like that came in. I haven’t mentioned the perm. It wasn’t a perm, it was a demi-wave! It was a demi-wave! | 
