Everton’s Greatest Season In Numbers

Football opinion is by definition a subjective business.

The greatest player, the best team, the most thrilling match; all matters for debate regardless of the context.

Howard Kendall’s Everton team of 1984/85 nevertheless presented a compelling case to be viewed as the finest in the Club’s history.

Everton won the league title by a street, added the European Cup Winners’ Cup in magisterial fashion and were a hair’s breadth from completing a unique treble when Kendall’s leggy side lost an arm wrestle of an FA Cup final to Manchester United.

The story of how manager Kendall oversaw Everton’s evolution into arguably the continent’s most complete football team is expertly told in the beguiling documentary Everton – Howard’s Way.

evertonfc.com has assembled some numbers which reflect the scale of the Blues’ achievements in an exhilarating season which concluded 35 years ago today.


28
 

Everton were undefeated in 28 matches in all competitions between Boxing Day 1984 and 11 May 1985.

The run began with a 2-1 victory at Sunderland and was ended by Nottingham Forest when Everton had already wrapped up the league title and were four days away from meeting Rapid Vienna in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final.

 

18 

The Blues’ unbeaten sequence featured 18 league matches. Successive draws away at Manchester United and Aston Villa in March 1985 represented the only occasions on which Everton dropped points in this period.

 

2

The number of trophies won by Everton. Kendall’s side claimed the Club’s first league title in 15 years and won Everton’s first continental honour in the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

 

5

Kendall’s team beat Queens Park Rangers on 6 May 1985 to win the championship with five games to spare.

 

30 

The number of goals scored by leading marksman Graeme Sharp at better than a rate of one strike every two games.

Sharp played 55 matches and his 30 goals were spread across four competitions.

 


88
 

Everton scored 88 goals in their First Division campaign at a rate of 2.10 per match. Kendall’s side were the league’s top scorers, with next best Watford on target 81 times.

 

63 

Everton contested 63 matches in five competitions in 1984/85.

A 22-team top division demanded 42 fixtures and the Blues’ European campaign extended to nine games.

Kendall’s team figured in seven FA Cup ties and the League Cup brought another four fixtures.

The season launched with a Charity Shield victory over Liverpool at Wembley.

 

61 

Captain Kevin Ratcliffe and midfielder Trevor Steven shared the record for most starts by an outfield Everton player during the season - 61.

 

5,670 

The number of minutes played by the peerless Neville Southall who started and finished every one of Everton’s 63 matches.

 

3 

Influential Everton figures banked a hat-trick of illustrious end-of-season awards.

Howard Kendall was named manager of the year, PFA Players’ Player of the Year honours went to Peter Reid and goalkeeper Neville Southall was crowned FWA Footballer of the Year.

 

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06:07

KENDALL'S EVERTON LEGENDS REVEALS SECRETS BEHIND FABLED DRESSING ROOM SPIRIT

'Only the best' mentality underpinned period of consistent success.


13
 

Everton won the title by 13 points from second-placed Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in third.

 

4

The number of league games in which Everton drew a blank. In fact, only twice when the title race remained alive did Kendall’s team fail to score in league games; a 1-0 reverse at Arsenal in October 1984 and two months later back in London against Queens Park Rangers.

 

6

Six players reached double figures for goals in all competitions: Graeme Sharp with his leading tally of 30, Kevin Sheedy (17), Trevor Steven (16), Andy Gray (14), Adrian Heath (13) and centre-back Derek Mountfield, who contributed a staggering 14 goals.

 

1 

The number of goals Everton conceded in their run to the European final, Bayern Munich's Dieter Hoeness the only player to breach the Blues' defences in eight matches. 

At the other end, Everton hit the net 16 times and boasted the competition's joint-top marksman in Andy Gray, who netted five goals in only three Cup Winners' Cup outings.


Everton - Howard's Way tells the full story of Howard Kendall's glorious trophy-winning team in the 1980s and tales from Merseyside during that era.

All proceeds from the documentary will go to fund The People's Place, Everton's purpose-built mental health facility close to Goodison Park.

Click here for details of how to watch Howard's Way.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE PEOPLE'S PLACE