Paul Rideout finds it astounding.
‘They angered me the way they played the other night. They got booed and they deserved to be.’
It’s nearly 28 years since his goal won the FA Cup for Everton against Manchester United. You could buy a pint then for £1.66, Robson and Jerome were number one and the average house price was £56,000. Everton haven’t won a trophy since.
Former Everton striker Paul Rideout opens up on the current crisis engulfing the club
On current showing it’s of no surprise. As the two teams meet again in the FA Cup on Friday night, however, the more pressing concern for Rideout is the other parallel from 1995: Everton face yet another relegation battle.
‘It’s astounding that it keeps happening,’ says an irritated Rideout. ‘Everton is a huge club but they’ve wasted the money. They have bought some good players but not the level needed and they don’t realise the expectation.’
Tuesday’s 4-1 humiliation at home to Brighton combined with midweek results means Everton travel to Old Trafford for their third-round tie in the Premier League’s bottom three.
‘I’ve been in that situation, down at the bottom. It’s a nasty place to be and there’s days when you can’t see a way out of it. Their body language against Brighton really worried me plus the careless manner in which they conceded the goals.
‘Dominic Calvert-Lewin could be such a top centre forward yet the level of his hunger worries me. But Everton isn’t a sh***y crowd.
‘I’ve been booed myself but if you give them something, show them some fight, that crowd will always give you some love back. It’s not cheap to go and watch Everton, those players need to start working their arses off for the fans.’
Now based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he coaches youth sides at Real Salt Lake Academy, you can sense Rideout’s frustration at suffering Everton from afar.
Toffees were humiliated by Brighton with other results seeing them drop into the bottom three
Questions are now being asked of Frank Lampard’s tenure as Everton manager as a result
The fire in his words is what you’d expect from a relative veteran of relegation dogfights.
Signed for Everton by Howard Kendall from Rangers on the eve of the inaugural Premier League season, Rideout is a survivor of the Mike Walker side which miraculously escaped the drop on the final day of the 1993-94 season, thanks to the slippery hands of Wimbledon goalkeeper Hans Segers.
Months later, Everton were staring a worse fate in the face, bottom after a 12-game winless start to the season. The club called for Joe Royle.
‘Joe said we were a soft touch, he was the motivator but his assistant Willie Donachie was the organiser,’ recalls Rideout. ‘They were a great partnership. Willie was excellent, he organised us from front to back within days. We worked as a group and if you didn’t listen you were out. We trusted each other.
‘Joe would shout from the sidelines of the training pitch and you wanted his praise because he could make you feel like a million dollars. We were a real working men’s team.’
When that season’s FA Cup came around, the revival had begun but the pressure was still palpable.
Everton and United will meet in the third round of the FA Cup on Friday night at Old Trafford
‘I loved playing in the FA Cup then. The shadow of relegation meant if you lost a league game it felt like a nail in your coffin, it was that tense. In the cup, we could have a go, let loose a little. We played Bristol City in the Third Round and they kicked our arses, but we stole a 1-0 win. After that we went on to beat some top teams as the cup became a great escape for us and confidence grew.’
Rideout aggravated a knee ligament injury in the semi final against Tottenham but had returned to secure Everton’s top flight status with a goal at Ipswich 11 days before Everton faced favourites Manchester United in the final.
‘The goal against Ipswich is probably the more important one to me because of what it secured,’ Rideout insists. ‘That sense of relief meant we could relax for the final and we went into it thinking we had nothing to lose.’
Having scored on his previous Wembley appearances for England schoolboys, Rideout believed it could be his day.
‘We were under pressure but Anders Limpar had the legs to break then, as he will admit himself, Graham Stuart should have scored, but his shot thudded off the bar and looped up.
Rideout (centre right) scored the goal that won the Toffees the FA Cup nearly 28 years ago
Rideout celebrates scoring the goal that won Everton their last piece of silverware in 1995
‘I still had a lot to do as I had to wait for it to drop then get the power on my header but that was one of my fortes. As I focused on putting it in the gap next to Steve Bruce on the line, Denis Irwin came across to forearm smash me across the face.
‘I got a bump on the nose but it was worth taking.
Rideout, 58, is now based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he coaches at the Real Salt Lake academy
‘Funnily enough, years later when I was coaching in Kansas, Denis was over with United on tour and he spotted me and came over to give me a cuddle. I certainly took more away from the final than him anyway.’
With safety and trophy secured, the after-party at the Royal Lancaster Hotel was one to remember, with Duncan Ferguson in full swing, lifting his kilt in time to the DJ’s tunes, much to the delight of Graham Stuart’s sisters who had joined the celebrations.
‘That was Duncan. I miss him. I wish he was at Everton now as he’d remind a few of them what’s required.
‘He could be one of the nastiest players on the pitch but the most gracious of men off it.
‘I claimed a goal off him once and he followed me into the dressing room saying ”that’s my goal, you know that’s my f***ing goal”. I said: ”Ok Dunc it’s your goal.” He wasn’t a man to be messed with.
‘We had great characters. I think the party on the coach home was even better.’
Fuelled by crates of Labatt’s lager, the return journey saw them stop at a Burger King off the M6, complete with FA Cup, as they headed back to Liverpool for their open top bus tour and a heroes’ welcome.
That is something which has always been afforded Rideout every time he returns to Goodison.
Rideout wishes Duncan Ferguson was at Everton to remind the players what’s required of them
During a 13-club career, he was part of the Tranmere side that knocked Everton out of the Cup in 2001.
He still got a standing ovation. In the next round he scored a hat-trick as Tranmere famously came back from 3-0 down to win 4-3 against Southampton. ‘John Aldridge was our manager then. I loved John, a really cool guy, but that night at half-time he was so angry. He had been banging his head against the wall and started his speech, but I’d already walked out to get on the pitch.
‘I was that embarrassed by the first half performance I couldn’t wait to put it right. Glenn Hoddle was their manager but once we got two back, Southampton s*** themselves. They didn’t have an answer.
‘The FA Cup has been good for me. I’d love it to be good for this Everton team too but they need a bit of what we had, a stronger dressing room who would fight for every moment. I saw Peter Reid say they need more of our ”dogs of war”, I’d say they need six or seven Peter Reids.’
It is nearly 28 years since his goal won the FA Cup for Everton against Manchester United
Now 58, Rideout looks tanned and trim. A US citizen, he ‘thoroughly enjoys’ coaching the U15s and U16s in Phoenix. His love of Everton has been inherited by son Jordan, also a coach at Real Salt Lake.
‘He’s 29. His mum bought him a new Everton top for Christmas. We are seven hours behind the UK here but when their games are on, it’s full on in our house.’
The family will be glued to the TV on Friday night hoping Everton can summon that spirit of ’95 and spring another Cup upset.
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