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
Nottingham Forest in the
Full Members Cup final (in which Sharp scored a goal) and then they were beaten 3–2 by Liverpool in
the second all Merseyside FA Cup final in four seasons. Despite the arrival of another striker –
Mike Newell – a year later, Sharp remained a regular player with 33 games and six goals in the
1989–90 season in a three-man attack. For a while it looked as though Sharp could be on the verge of another title triumph with Everton as they went top of the league in late autumn 1989 but they failed to sustain their title challenge and finished sixth as Liverpool sealed their 18th league title. He remained a regular player in
1990–91, though his 27 league appearances delivered just three goals. With speculation that manager Howard Kendall (who had returned in November 1990 more than three years after leaving Everton) was about to sign
Dean Saunders, it appeared that Sharp's days at Goodison Park were numbered. Sharp did not appear to be part Kendall's future plans and he departed to Oldham Athletic (managed by former Everton player
Joe Royle) in July 1991, allowing new signing
Peter Beardsley, along with Tony Cottee and Mike Newell, to start the
1991–92 season as Everton's strikeforce. Sharp was regarded as good in the air and able to hold the ball well and distribute it to provide more scoring opportunities for others than for himself. He formed successful scoring partnerships with
Andy Gray, Adrian Heath and
Gary Lineker. In the 1984–85 season Sharp scored 30 goals in 54 matches. In 426 appearances for Everton (21 as substitute), Sharp scored 159 goals to set a post war goalscoring for Everton which has yet to be matched. Only
Dixie Dean (pre
Second World War) has ever scored more goals for the club than Sharp did. As well as winning two league titles, a European Cup Winners' Cup and an FA Cup with Everton (and collecting three runners-up medals in the FA Cup and another in the League Cup), Sharp's exploits also included a four-goal yield in a 4–0 league win at
Southampton in October 1987, his first Everton hat-trick in a 5–2 home win over
Newcastle United in December 1986, a hat-trick in an FA Cup fourth round win at
Sheffield Wednesday in January 1988 and a hat-trick against
Wrexham in the League Cup during his final season on
Merseyside.
Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic paid £500,000 for Sharp just after their promotion to the
First Division after a 68-year exile. He helped them finish 17th in
1991–92, ensuring that they would be members of the new
Premier League. He helped them avoid relegation on goal difference in
1992–93, and reach the
FA Cup semi-final a year later, although they were finally relegated to the new Division One at the end of the
1993–94 season. When
Joe Royle quit as Oldham manager to take over at Everton in November 1994, Sharp took over as player-manager at
Boundary Park and they finished in midtable in
1994–95 – a disappointing showing for a side who had retained all but one of their key players (
Mike Milligan) from the side that had been relegated from the Premier League and reached an FA Cup semi-final. Further disappointment came in
1995–96 when Oldham finished 18th, and Sharp finally walked in March of
1996–97 with Oldham on the verge of their imminent relegation to
Division Two.
Bangor City After coaching Oldham Athletic, Sharp later served as manager of
Bangor City in the
League of Wales for one season and led the club to a
Welsh Cup victory in May 1998. ==International career==