Everton: PAUL RIDEOUT lets rip on the crisis unfolding at Goodison Park as the FA Cup returns

Paul Rideout finds it amazing.

‘They angered me the way they played the other night. They were booed and they deserved it.

It’s been almost 28 years since his goal won the FA Cup for Everton against Manchester United. Then you could buy a pint for £1.66, Robson and Jerome were number one and the median house price was £56,000. Everton have not won a trophy since.

In the current demo it’s no surprise. However, when the two teams meet again in the FA Cup on Friday night, the most pressing concern for Rideout is the other 1995 parallel: Everton face yet another relegation battle.

“It’s amazing that it keeps happening,” says an irritated Rideout. Everton is a great club, but they have wasted money. They have bought good players but not of the necessary level and they don’t realize the expectation.’

Tuesday’s 4-1 humiliation at home to Brighton combined with midweek results means Everton travel to Old Trafford for their Premier League bottom three third round tie.

I’ve been in that situation, deep down. It’s a nasty place to be and there are days when you can’t see a way out. His body language against Brighton really worried me, as well as the careless way in which they conceded goals.

‘Dominic Calvert-Lewin might be a top centre-forward, but the level of his hunger worries me. But Everton are not a shitty 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 see Everton, those players need to start working hard for the fans.”

Now residing in Phoenix, Arizona, where he coaches the Real Salt Lake Academy youth teams, you can feel Rideout’s frustration at suffering Everton from afar.

The fire in his words is what you’d expect from a relative veteran of relegation dogfighting.

Signed for Everton by Howard Kendall from Rangers on the eve of the Premier League’s inaugural season, Rideout is a survivor of Mike Walker’s team who miraculously escaped crashing on the final day of the 1993-94 season, thanks to the slippery hands of Wimbledon. goalkeeper Hans Segers.

Months later, Everton faced a worse fate in their face, deep after a 12-game winless start to the season. The club called up Joe Royle.

“Joe said we were a soft touch, he was the motivator, but his assistant Willie Donachie was the organizer,” Rideout recalls. ‘They were a great partnership. Willie was excellent, he had us organized from front to back in a matter of days. We worked in a group and if you didn’t listen you were out. We trusted each other.

“Joe was yelling from the sidelines of the training ground and you wanted his praise because he could make you feel like a million bucks. We were a true team of hardworking men.

By the time that season’s FA Cup rolled around, the renaissance had begun, but the pressure was still palpable.

‘I loved playing in the FA Cup then. The shadow of relegation meant that if you lost a league game it felt like a nail in your coffin, it was that tense. In the cup, we could try, loosen up a bit. We played Bristol City in the third round and they kicked our ass, but we stole a 1-0 win from them. After that we beat some of the best 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 come back to secure Everton’s top division status with a goal at Ipswich 11 days before Everton faced favorites Manchester United in the final. .

“The goal against Ipswich is probably the most important for me because of what it ensured,” 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 in his previous appearances at Wembley for the England schoolboys, Rideout believed it could be his day.

‘We were under pressure but Anders Limpar had the legs to break so, by his own admission, Graham Stuart should have scored but his shot went with a thud off the bar and wide.

‘I still had a lot to do as I had to wait for it to drop and then turn my header on, but that was one of my strengths. As I focused on putting him in space next to Steve Bruce on the line, Denis Irwin came up to hit me in the face with his forearm.

‘I got a bump on my nose, but it was worth taking.

“Interestingly, years later when I was training in Kansas, Denis was with United on tour and he saw me and came over to give me a hug. I certainly took more from the final than he did anyway.

With security and the trophy secured, the after-party at the Royal Lancaster Hotel was unforgettable, with Duncan Ferguson in full swing, lifting his kilt to the DJ tunes, much to the delight of Graham Stuart’s sisters who had joined. to the celebrations. .

It was Duncan. I miss you. He wishes he was at Everton now, as he would remind some of them what it takes.

“He could be one of the nastiest players on the field, but the kindest of men off it.”

“I claimed a goal from him once and he followed me into the locker room saying ‘that’s my goal, you know it’s my fucking goal’. I said, ‘Ok Dunc, that’s your goal.’ He was not a man to mess with.

‘We had great characters. I think the party on the bus home was even better.

Powered by cases of Labatt beer, the return journey saw them stop at a Burger King on the M6, complete with the FA Cup, as they headed back to Liverpool for their open top bus tour and a heroes welcome.

That’s something Rideout has always been granted whenever he returns to Goodison.

During a career at 13 clubs, he was part of the Tranmere team that knocked Everton out of the Cup in 2001.

He still received a standing ovation. In the next round, he scored a hat-trick as Tranmere came from 3-0 down to win 4-3 against Southampton. ‘John Aldridge was our manager then. He loved John, a great guy, but that night at halftime he was very angry. He had been banging his head against the wall and started his speech, but I had already left to enter the field.

“I was so embarrassed for the first half of the performance that I couldn’t wait to fix it. Glenn Hoddle was his manager, but once we got two back, Southampton screwed themselves. They had no answer.

‘The FA Cup has been good for me. I would love it to be good for this Everton team too, but they need a bit of what we had, a stronger dressing room that fights for every moment. I saw Peter Reid say they need more of our “war dogs”, I’d say they need six or seven Peter Reid’s.

Now 58, Rideout looks tanned and trim. US citizen, ‘enjoys tremendously’ coaching Under-15s and Under-16s in Phoenix. His love for Everton has been inherited by his son Jordan, also the coach of Real Salt Lake.

He is 29 years old. His mum bought him a new Everton shirt for Christmas. We’re seven hours behind the UK here, but when their games are on, it’s packed at our house.”

The family will be glued to the television on Friday night in the hope that Everton can summon that ’95 spirit and deliver another Cup upset.