Graeme Sharp

In a 2018 interview with FourFourTwo, Robbie Fowler described Sharp as one of his heroes growing up, commenting: "Graeme Sharpe [sic] was a fantastic centre-forward; he could hold up the ball, was good in the air and could finish with both feet." He was also regarded as being a good distributor of the ball, who was capable of creating scoring opportunities for other players as well as himself.

Everton

Sharp was born in Glasgow. He started his playing career at Dumbarton before signing for Everton for £120,000 in 1980. He did not immediately become a first team player at Goodison Park, and by the end of the 1980–81 season had still made just six league appearances for the club. But new manager Howard Kendall soon selected Sharp as a regular striker and was rewarded handsomely as Sharp netted 15 goals in 29 league games. The goals continued to flow over the next nine seasons. Sharp's greatest achievements were as part of the Everton team which in 1984 won the FA Cup (he scored the first goal in the final), in 1985 and 1987 won the Football League First Division and also in 1985 the European Cup Winners' Cup. In October 1984, he scored the lone goal in Everton's first win at Anfield since 1970. He was on the losing side in the FA Cup finals of 1986 and 1989, with both of these finals being won by Everton's local rivals Liverpool. His key role in this golden era led to his inclusion in Everton's "Greatest Ever Team", following a poll in the club's 125th anniversary. After Gary Lineker's departure to FC Barcelona in the 1986 close season, Sharp had a succession of strike partners. First he played alongside Paul Wilkinson, Adrian Heath (also a midfielder) and then Wayne Clarke before the arrival of £2million Tony Cottee for the start of the 1988–89 season. This was the season where Everton were on the losing side in two Wembley finals – first they lost 4–3 to…

Sharp played 12 times for the Scotland national team between 1985 and 1988. This included one appearance in the 1986 World Cup, in a goalless draw against Uruguay. Sharp scored one international goal, in a 1–1 draw with Malta.

Everton

Football League First Division: 1984–85, 1986–87 FA Cup: 1983–84; runner-up: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1988–89 FA Charity Shield: 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 European Cup Winners' Cup: 1984–85 Individual

Everton Top Goal Scorer: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1987–88 Goal of the Season: 1984–85 vs. Liverpool (Division One) PFA Team of the Year: 1987–88 First Division