Do you beleive in Stuart Pearce

"There could have been a worse time to meet the League champions," wrote Clive White in The Times, and he had a valid point. In what would be Everton's 63rd game of a gruelling season, there was definitely an impression of one drink too many for Howard Kendall's weary men, quite literally if Stuart Pearce's comments in Psycho are to be believed. "You could smell the booze on the breath of the Everton players," Pearce writes. "We were sure that they had been out on the Saturday night to celebrate."

Pearce's recollections may be true or not - he does also claim that the Stoke match was the penultimate fixture of the season, and his penalty was scored in the last ten minutes, when in fact it was scored in the 66th - but there could be no doubting that Everton were vulnerable. Their injury list was shocking. Gary Stevens, Derek Mountfield, Ian Atkins, John Bailey, Peter Reid, and Andy Gray were all ruled out, although undoubtedly many a Norwich fan would have raised an eyebrow when the final name on that list played for Scotland just two days later.

Posted By: KevinBond, Apr 7, 17:44:03