1) Everton 5-0 Manchester United (Division One, October 1984)

Liverpool had won the three previous championships, and were reigning European champions to boot, but their main man Graeme Souness had buggered off to Sampdoria, leaving Ron Atkinson’s Manchester United as many folk’s pre-season favourites for the title. A couple of months in, that looked a fair shout; Liverpool had stalled from the get-go and were flailing around in 17th place after 11 matches, while United were stalking early leaders Arsenal in third, having conceded only nine goals. Hopes of that elusive first title since 1967 were high.

Nobody was talking much about Everton, despite Howard Kendall’s team having won the previous season’s FA Cup and then the Charity Shield, new signing Paul Bracewell slotting into the midfield effortlessly and the team hovering over United’s shoulder in fourth. But the chat started quicksmart once United had visited Goodison. “Perhaps the Championship will stay on Merseyside after all,” was the slightly startled opening line in the Observer’s report, upon Everton crushing United 5-0. “United were not so much beaten as destroyed, their credibility in tatters as their hugely expensive collection of talents came off second best in every area of the field.” Bracewell, Peter Reid and Trevor Steven were comparatively unsung compared to Bryan Robson, Gordon Strachan, Remi Moses and Jesper Olsen, but they were first to everything here.

Kevin Sheedy bravely put Everton ahead on five minutes with a diving header that caused him to clash heads with Kevin Moran. The United defender was still dazed when Sheedy ran through for the second. Steven set up Adrian Heath for the third on 33 minutes, United’s proud defensive record in tatters. Gary Stevens and Graeme Sharp added a couple more late on to complete a rout. United’s midfield, noted the Guardian’s Patrick Barclay, “played butter to Everton’s knives … so can Everton win the championship? On this form, unquestionably.” Barclay was big enough to remind his readers that he had tipped United two weeks previously, but he called it right this time, and early enough to deserve credit for the heads up (Arsenal and Spurs were also big presences in a crowded field). Everton were suddenly serious contenders, and went on to romp the title by 13 points from … Liverpool, whose cold start cost them any chance of a fourth title in a row. United ended the season a point back in fourth, promise unfulfilled, a common story in the league during the Big Ron era.

2) Everton 0-1 Manchester United (FA Cup final, May 1985)

Everton’s Neville Southall is beaten by the only goal of the game from Manchester United’s Norman Whiteside in the 1985 FA Cup final. Photograph: Pa Photos/PA

Payback time for Manchester United. Received wisdom has Everton as the hot favourites, having landed their first title in 15 years, then the Cup Winners’ Cup in Rotterdam three days before the Wembley showpiece, the latter victory celebrated in some style on the jet back home. A treble was certainly on, but here’s our legendary scribe David Lacey on the morning of the big match: “The popular feeling seems to be that United will win and thwart Everton’s dreams of a treble just as they foiled Liverpool’s threefold ambitions in 1977 … United are the most entertaining team in the country when they find the right blend and rhythm.” So an Everton victory wasn’t exactly considered a shoo-in.

And so it proved. The story of the match pivoted on two incidents. With 78 fairly turgid minutes gone, Paul McGrath had a pass intercepted by Peter Reid in the centre circle. Kevin Moran threw himself into a challenge, and took Reid out. Peter Willis, a retired police inspector from County Durham, sent Moran packing, the first dismissal in an FA Cup final. Most observers – including Everton’s manager Howard Kendall and Reid himself – thought a caution would have sufficed, with Reid not necessarily in full control of the ball. “After the referee blew for a foul I walked away but he pulled me back and asked me to turn round,” recalled Moran directly after the match. “I thought he was just taking my name and was shattered when he told me I was off. If we had lost, believe me, I would have been sick.”

The game opened up after Moran’s dismissal, though not in the way most expected. Gordon Strachan and Jesper Olsen kept probing down the flanks, their runs too much for Everton, who in the wake of Rotterdam were looking leggy, perchance still a little hungover, regardless of the man advantage and Frank Stapleton being forced to fill in at centre-half. With 10 minutes of extra-time remaining, Norman Whiteside sashayed down the inside-right channel, using Pat van den Hauwe as a shield. Neville Southall – the PFA player of the year – was partially unsighted, and Whiteside cashed in to his advantage, curling an exquisite shot into the bottom-left corner off the post. One of the great FA Cup final goals. “I like to practise that shot in training,” smiled United’s hero, only just turned 20, after the match. “They do not always go in. It was nice to see it come off at Wembley.”

3) Manchester United 1-0 Everton (FA Cup quarter-final, March 1983)



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Frank Stapleton breaks Everton hearts in 1983

So Everton had United’s number in the league during the mid 1980s, but the reverse was true in the Cup. Here’s an astonishing goal, and to be honest a slightly unfair result, in a quarter-final meeting between the two clubs in 1983. United hadn’t lost at Old Trafford for the best part of a year, but Everton really tested them in this game. Howard Kendall’s side put in a performance full of verve and panache, and were by far the better team, Kevin Richardson and Steve McMahon brimming with youthful brio in midfield. But Adrian Heath and Graeme Sharp both missed gilt-edged scoring chances, and would be made to pay for their profligacy.

With the game goalless and heading into injury time, Everton had done enough to earn themselves a replay at Goodison Park. They certainly deserved one. But there was a sting in the tail. United won a corner, and manager Ron Atkinson decided to roll the dice. He threw on Lou Macari, hauling Mike Duxbury off simply because he was the player standing closest to the dugout at the time.

The gamble paid off handsomely. Everton cleared the corner but – and we’re now into the second minute of added time – Ray Wilkins launched a long ball down the inside-left channel. Macari, with his first touch, headed it down, just inside the area, and Frank Stapleton met the ball on the volley, guiding it powerfully with the outside of his right boot into the top-right corner past keeper Jim Arnold, who threw his head back in impotent despair. The resulting roar was so deafening it nearly broke ITV’s recording equipment, and the walls surrounding the Stretford End were still gently vibrating two months later when United were winning the Cup in a replayed final against Brighton.

But what a cameo from Macari, who had been on the pitch for all of 90 seconds! “Lou’s stamina is a bit suspect,” quipped Big Ron, “so we only put him on for the last minute and a half. He’s in the dressing room now, physically exhausted, shattered.”

4) Manchester United 3-0 Everton (Division One, 15 April 1974); Everton 1-0 Manchester United (Division One, 23 April 1974)

Manchester United’s Sammy McIlroy, centre, takes on the Everton defence at Old Trafford in 1974. Photograph: Bob Thomas/Getty Images

When Ralph Coates gave Tottenham Hotspur victory at Old Trafford in March 1974, the famous Manchester United, European champions six years previously, looked certainties for relegation. They were rock bottom of the table, three points adrift of Norwich City, five behind Birmingham City, seven behind West Ham United and the safety of 19th spot. “United must prepare itself for life in the Second Division,” wrote the Observer, noting that “a number of clubs at the top of the third” would have been above United’s “monotonously drab approach”.

But something stirred. United won at Chelsea. They scrambled a draw against a Burnley side who had just given champions-elect Leeds an almighty belt in the mouth at Elland Road, 4-1. Then they beat Norwich City and Newcastle United. Suddenly they could sniff safety. And when Everton came to town, the great escape looked on. Jim McCalliog scored twice and Stewart Houston the other as United won 3-0. A Terry Darracott own goal, forced by the effervescent McCalliog, was strangely disallowed near the end. Brian Greenhoff and Sammy McIlroy missed easy chances. It could have been 6-0, “and even that margin would not have flattered United”, reported this paper. “Any side who scores 12 goals against four in five games, while collecting nine points, must have a strong belief in their chances of avoiding relegation. That tally is more like championship form.” United had risen to 20th spot, a mere two points from safety.

Ah, what a difference eight days would make. United could only draw at Southampton in their next game. All that precious momentum had been immediately lost. Tommy Docherty predicted that United would “murder” Everton when the sides met again the following week (the strange, syncopated rhythms of the old-school fixture list, right there). This time it was Everton who dominated, who failed to take several gilt-edged chances, and who ran out deserved victors. Their 1-0 win – Mick Lyons scoring the only goal, diverting a George Telfer shot into the net – was coupled with United’s relegation rivals Birmingham City battering QPR 4-0. The two results pushed United back down to 21st place, perilously close to the brink.

In the next game, Manchester City striker Denis Law symbolically pushed them over it, although it was Birmingham’s win over Norwich that actually rubber-stamped the forms. This bittersweet confirmation of United’s demise tends to obscure Everton’s strange role in it, offering them hope one week, callously snatching it back the next.

5) Everton 1-2 Manchester United (Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, February 1965)

Neither Everton nor Manchester United enjoyed their European football very much in the 1963-64 season. Everton competed for the European Cup, and were drawn against Internazionale in the preliminary round (compare and contrast to the spoilt, seeded big boys of today). The Internazionale right-back Tarcisio Burgnich nearly scored with a 40-yard screamer in a goalless draw at Goodison; Jair claimed the only goal back in Milan. Out almost before it had begun.

United meanwhile made it to the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup, but their tie against Sporting of Lisbon really is best forgotten. Denis Law’s hat-trick at Old Trafford gave Matt Busby’s side a 4-1 first-leg advantage, but United crumbled in Portugal. Two down after 12 minutes, they ended up being thrashed 5-0, all the goals scored by the 54th minute, Osvaldo the hat-trick hero this time. It remains United’s biggest humiliation in Europe (though perhaps they got off lightly, Sporting having won their previous home match in Europe 16-1, against Apoel of Cyprus). Both teams left the arena to a hail of cushions, surely the comfiest celebration in the history of Uefa competition.

Two of England’s biggest clubs were therefore in need of some succour on the European front the following year. Only one would get it, as they were drawn together in the third round of the precursor to the Uefa Cup, the old Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Everton held United in the first leg at Old Trafford. Fred Pickering gave Everton the lead on 14 minutes against the run of play, latching on to a Bill Foulkes miskick and driving home. John Connelly pounced on a Jimmy Gabriel backpass to equalise for United on 33 minutes. After which it was all United, with the Toffees keeper Gordon West the star performer. A 1-1 draw. But United pushed home their superiority in the second leg at Goodison: Connelly opened the scoring in the first half, and though Pickering equalised early in the second, David Herd sealed the deal with 15 minutes to go.

Was this match pivotal to both clubs’ European fortunes? Perhaps. United, who would end the season as English champions – pipping Leeds to the title, their first since the horrors of Munich – made it to the semis of the Fairs Cup before losing in mid-June (!) to Ferencvaros. Continental confidence bolstered, they made it to the European Cup semis a year later before losing to Partizan Belgrade; and famously won the European Cup a couple of years after that.

Harry Catterick’s side never quite got to grips with European football, though. A second-round upset against Ujpest of Hungary in the following year’s Fairs Cup; a second-round defeat to Real Zaragoza in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1966; a quarter-final loss to Panathinaikos in the European Cup in 1971. Now, identifying the 1965 Fairs Cup showdown between the two clubs as an epochal fork in the road may be stretching a point somewhat. But these results can be shaped to tell the story, if it’s an argument you fancy making.

6) Everton 2-6 Manchester United (Division One, December 1977)

We end with a scoreline that made no sense whatsoever. United had looked good under Tommy Docherty since coming back up from their brief sabbatical in the Second Division, two seasons of sparkling football culminating in a memorable FA Cup victory over Liverpool. But during the summer break, the Doc was struck off when his affair with the physio’s wife was uncovered by a prissy board, and United started the following season struggling under the new boss, Dave Sexton.

Flailing around in 13th place just before Christmas, they were utterly humiliated by Brian Clough’s newly promoted, table-topping Nottingham Forest, who made a 4-0 statement at Old Trafford. Gordon Lee’s Everton, on the other hand, were in the thick of the title race, sitting on Forest’s shoulder in second spot, two points off the top, and on a 22-match unbeaten run.

Cue an absurd Boxing Day massacre at Goodison. United ran in six – Lou Macari (2), Gordon Hill, Jimmy Greenhoff, Sammy McIlroy and a Trevor Ross own goal – while Everton had to make do with consolations from Martin Dobson and Bob Latchford. “We won it for Dave Sexton,” insisted Macari, whose second, a sumptuous volley from Hill’s cross, was the pick of the bunch. “Goodison is my lucky ground,” he added. “Two years ago I scored with an overhead kick.”

Everton lost again 24 hours later, an ill-tempered 3-1 reverse at Leeds, and all of a sudden found themselves five points off the pace. Their title challenge never quite recovered. Latchford scored twice in a face-saving 2-1 win at Old Trafford at the end of March, putting Everton only the one point behind Forest. But by that point they’d played four games more than Clough’s side, and the jig was up soon enough after back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and Coventry City. Everton finished in third spot. United meanwhile ended the season adrift in 10th, their Boxing Day bash having achieved nothing whatsoever. Apart, that is, from derailing the title challenge of a local adversary, the rivalry between these two clubs having quite a vicious edge back in the day, before the modern hatred between United and Liverpool eclipsed everything.

Everton would, of course, wreak revenge with that 4-4 draw at the business end of the title race in 2012, in which David Moyes and Marouane Fellaini made quite the impression. But the antagonism just isn’t the same these days.