sport news DOMINIC KING: The sad story of Graeme Sharp's Everton exile trends now
The back of Goodison Park’s Main Stand is a sight to behold. From one end to the other, running the length of the pitch, there is a gigantic pictorial tribute to the men who set the standards.
Alex Young, ‘The Golden Vision’ as he was known, starts the sequence. To his right, follow Dave Hickson, Bob Latchford and Dixie Dean before Joe Royle completes the line. The image that really catches your eye, though, is the man who we have not yet named: Graeme Sharp.
Positioned between Dean and Royle, there is Sharp with the ball at his left foot, moving elegantly towards goal. No matter how many times you have visited Goodison, something about this still makes you stand and stare - the colours, the scale and majesty. It is a moment in time.
What a player Sharp was: he gave Everton 11 years after leaving Dumbarton in 1980 for £120,000, scoring 159 times in 446 appearances and providing the foil for great partnerships with Andy Gray, Adrian Heath and Gary Lineker, carrying the weight of the No 9 jersey.
Only the incomparable Dean can better the total of the proud Scot, who had a prodigious leap and a shot like a cannon — think back to the volley that settled the Merseyside Derby at Anfield in October 1984. His place in history is secure.
Graeme Sharp has not set foot in Goodison Park since a defeat by Brighton in January
It is a sorry tale for an iconic player who has a mural painted on the side of Goodison Park
Sharp (back row, fourth from left) is arguably the club's greatest living player - he formed a crucial part of their 1980s success
For the past five months, however, looking at the image has left profound sadness. Sharp, who won two league titles, scoring the opening goal against Watford in the 1984 FA Cup final win and also collected the European Cup Winners Cup, is Everton’s greatest living player.
He is to Everton what Sir Kenny Dalglish is to Liverpool, Sir Bobby Charlton is to Manchester United and Mike Summerbee is to Manchester City: a statesman who has represented the club all around the world with dignity and pride.
Could you imagine any of those men not being able to set foot in the stadiums where they once made dreams?
Yet that is the situation in which Sharp, now 62, currently finds himself. The last time he attended a game at Goodison was on January 3, when Everton were ransacked by Brighton losing 4-1. It was a febrile night, with protests against the board of directors.
On the day of the next home game, against Southampton on January 14, Everton issued a statement to say they had received security advice that it wasn’t safe for members of the board to attend the fixture and that this was ‘a profoundly sad’ situation.
The previous evening, a video had been released on social media by a group of fans, lined up on Goodison Road with banners. Among the barbs aimed at Chairman Bill Kenwright and
