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Graeme Sharp

Posts: 25

Blues legend Graeme Sharp is Everton's leading post-war goalscorer and won two league championships, an FA Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup.

He is now the Club's Fan Ambassador and chairs the Fans Forum.

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It has been frustrating to hear of a couple of injuries in the last few days... 

It was disappointing for Andy Johnson at Wigan. A good win looked like it had been blighted by that injury, but it seems it is not as serious as first thought.

It's a big blow to lose a striker though, and it's been made worse by James McFadden getting injured in training.

He was obviously very unlucky but it is strange how one injury seems to lead to two or three.

I am sure James is gutted because with Andy out, it could have been a chance for him to stake a claim for a regualar place in the team.

We all talk about metatarsal injuries being common at the moment, but I suffered one back in the eighties.

Gary Stevens kicked me in training, I thought nothing of it and went home, but the next day I was in real pain.

I was in plaster for six weeks!

Us being out of the FA Cup has lead to the manager deciding to organise a friendly with Bournemouth.

Some managers choose to go off to Spain and Portugal in these situations but this time the manager has gone for a game to keep the players ticking over.

It should be a good game on the south coast, it's a new stadium and a decent surface so that will help. It will be good for the people of Bournemouth to see a decent game and, of course, we'll be hoping for no more injuries.

Hopefully the game will mean no-one will be watching the first few minutes of the derby and saying we look sluggish.

I'd imagine it will be a low-key friendly with a bit of player rotation but the most important thing is to be ready for the derby.