 Peter Reid, guest editor of the Issue 8 of Seventy 3
(available for purchase now), is the most significant connection between
Everton and Sunderland. After all, the lyrics of the infamous song tell it all:
"We once thought of you as a Scouser dressed in blue, but now you're red
and white through and through".
Reid was our saviour. The man who formed part of an
Everton side that dominated in the 1980s arrived in the north east in 1995 and
prevented an unthinkable relegation from the second tier of English football
following his appointment. He subsequently took us on a rollercoaster ride that
saw two promotions, an agonising play-off final defeat on penalties and two
seventh-place finishes in the Premier League.
During his reign on Wearside, there was further Everton
influence in his first-team. Most notably in the early days it was Paul
Bracewell, a man who had played alongside Reid at Goodison Park and who had
three spells at the heart of the Sunderland midfield. He also assisted Reid
during his time in charge.
There have been plenty more midfielders too. Gavin McCann
was a Reid signing from Everton and the tough-tackler typified everything about
his manager. During his five seasons on Wearside his form earned him an England
cap. Don Hutchison also arrived in his native north-east after being signed
from Everton in a £2.5million deal and played his part in the successful period
before departing for West Ham in a controversial move.
Goalkeeper Thomas Myhre and winger John Oster were to
other Evertonians who joined the Reid revolution, although neither was ever
able to hold down a regular berth in the Sunderland side. Kevin Kilbane, on the
other hand, was a regular on the left flank – possibly having more fans on his
back than supporters as his signing coincided with a miserable run of form –
but departed after relegation from the top-flight to join Everton.
One of Reid’s very earliest signings turned out to be a
bit of duck egg too – the £600,000 he paid out to Everton to sign Brett Angell
anything but successful. Ten games and no goals later he was offloaded.
Aside from Reid’s signings, there have been many other
connections. One of the best has to by Billy Bingham, the Northern Ireland
international who spent eight years playing on the wing for Sunderland before
later turning out in the Everton blue. In the 1970s, Mick Buckley and Rod
Belfitt both made the opposite journey swapping Merseyside for the north-east,
the same switch Jack Hedley had made more than 50 years earlier. In the 1980s,
meanwhile, Ian Atkins earned a £70,000 move to Everton following two years at
Sunderland.
Ian Snodin, a regular at Everton during the 1980s and
1990s, had a brief loan spell at Sunderland in 1994, three years after his
Toffees team-mate Peter Beagrie had also signed on a short-term loan spell for
Sunderland.
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