The Big Interview: Gordon Lee

Has there ever been a more unlucky manager? Lost league cup final with the last kick of the second replay, beaten by the referee in one semi final, by a weird bounce in another. I'm still convinced that team was a decent keeper away from great things.

Gordon will be 85 on Friday.

Dave, in a way I agree with you, because McKenzie enjoyed the showboat stuff. But in another way he was a victim of our being crap compared with the great football we had played. A player like him might well have really excelled and contributed to the team if he'd played in one of the 60s sides. I know it's all ifs and maybes.

I don't recall the style of football played under Gordon Lee being dour at all. We played our best football of the 1970's under him (the title winning of 1970 excluded) and we were pretty attractive to watch. We were certainly more expansive under Lee than Billy Bingham. He had two major drawbacks he looked and sounded pretty dour and he got rid of the mercurial wonderful Duncan McKenzie!

Of course we were not as good as the 1960's but we better under his management than most give him credit for. The other problem was the RS who had a very good side when Lee was manager. We played some great stuff in 1977-78 and we finished 3rd and 4th in his first two seasons followed by an awful third season which saw his sacked.

Shame They would not let Lee sign both Sharpe and Rush when he asked the board.

One funny was when they toured abroad and Lee asked what the player was eating, he said Welsh rarebit boss, with Lee muttering back looks like cheese on toast to me.

The was another funny about the streaker at the Anfield derby but I cannot remember what Lee said.

He asked Shankley if he could have a chat and said he should be on more money, Shankly agreed, Everton did not bow to his demands and was sold.

Shame really because he was one of the finest wingers of his generation.

There were some great victories in 77-78 and 78-79 thrashing Leicester away 5-1 and beating Coventry at home 6-0 stick in my mind and of course Big Bob getting the 30 goals in the last game of the season. I also think we had the longest unbeaten in our history in 78-79 (I will check that later).

If I had to put it in a nutshell, in the 60s and up to 69-70, Everton were just different from everyone else. We played the ball through midfield when others blasted it from defence. We played like Brazil, or like the current Man City. We were ahead of our time in some ways. But from 70-71 onwards, we weren't that different from everyone else. Still one of the top teams, but no longer played like Brazil (not consistently anyway) and no longer won anything (until the fantastic 80s period).

The girl unfortunately was going through a bad spell at the time, not long after the Derby game she threw herself off a ferry into the river Mersey. She was rescued, I never heard about her after that.

I remember City who were in the process of running away with the league in March 1972... all based on a mixture of skill and grit... by bringing in Rodney Marsh, he upset the balance of skill and grit.

Marsh himself later agreed it was all his fault. In my opinion, though, it was more of Allison's fault for getting over ambitious and trying to gild the lily. He should've just kept on keeping on with what worked. But he couldn't help himself, as was his wont, he wanted to go out with a big flamboyant Allison finish.

Great to watch when on song like in the cup tie against Stoke(?) but Tommy Smith had it right when he ignored the fancy stopovers and gave MotM to Andy King!

Lee was the nearly-man – a goalkeeper short of winning the league. If we'd had Shilton rather than Wood, we may well have won it. A good, thoroughly decent human being.

Dave, in the game where the Hamilton goal was disallowed, Smith was marking McKenzie near the centre spot, the ball came down from a goal kick, McKenzie avoided Smith's challenge to trap the ball dead, flicked it over his shoulder, turned, trapped it again, and sped off leaving Smith flailing about. It was wonderful stuff.

I agree with the poster's who claim that McKenzie wasn't a team player, because when I attended the FA Cup game at Ninian Park in February 1977, what should have been a routine goal for McKenzie, turned into a heart in mouth time, in an effort to impress, he almost made a mess of things, fortunately he did score from that attempt, which together with a goal from Bob Latchford ensured a 2-1 victory. McKenzie was the type of player who would revel in a 4 or 5 goal win, but not a character to have in the trenches.

I went in those days mainly to be entertained by Duncan, who I adored. To be fair I think most fans loved him. My dad used to skit him as he walked with his arse sticking out like Max Wall (or Beyoncé for the younger readers), my mum liked him. He was brilliant in the mud bath semi at Maine Rd against the best team in Europe that year.

In those mid 70s we had Martin Dobson, Colin Todd, Mick Pejic and Andy King but not much else to entertain us. For me Gordon Lee's football was dour, I was never a Latchford man although he was loved by the majority.

Watching the games now from the old ‘Match of the Day' or ‘The Big Match', the thing that strikes me is how bad the pitches were and how poor the quality of football was.

Some of my recollections may be through rose-tinted glasses.

So far as I am concerned, the football under Lee was a symptom of a bigger malaise with Everton, which has continued barring the period 84-87. Some supporters might get fed up listening to the likes of me going on about how great we were prior to the 70s. But the discrepancy between the expectations we had at the end of the 60s, with the gradual development of Everton during that time, and what happened after the 60s, cannot be overestimated.

That team that won the 69-70 title should have taken the football world by storm in the 70s. That team could have been the England team in Mexico, and could in principle have won that World Cup, they were so good.

In a way, I believe the popularity of Duncan McKenzie was a product of the expectations of football quality we'd acclimatised to up to 1970. Players like him, with their artistry and showmanship, made memories for us which were not being provided by the overall quality of Everton teams during that time.

Dave (30), The Gwladys Street cheered when Case injured Nulty? I think the song “Jimmy Jimmy shithouse Case” originated after that tackle.

We could have won the title under Bingham, but the football he “provided” really and truly was dreadful to watch, safety first at it's worst.

Do you recall the shocking tackle that pond life Case did in the last home match of the 85-86 season when it played for Southampton? I forget who it was on but it kicked off with Reidy getting stuck in. Case was the usual cowardly RS bellend out of the same mould as Smith. A hard case until someone stands up to them. Think Smith and Johnny Morrissey.

An apology for a human being.

Hope to see you again after the Watford game and have a good chat.

I think I remember reading an interview with an ex-player from that time who said that Gordon Lee had things ticking very nicely until his assistant left. He said the players loved him and that training was spot on but after he left it was never the same and about a year later it was over.

Helpfully, I can't remember the name of the player, or the coach, so I may well be wrong. I could possibly be getting confused with the Bingham era. But it always stuck in my head. Anyone know if that sounds right?

At one unforgettable Q&A a well known Evertonian from Woodstock Gdns (wont name him, some will already know ) stood up and said to Lee; " Gordon. You said that if you hadnt won anything at Everton after two years you would consider yourself to have failed and would leave.

Lee - "I do remember saying something along those lines, but. .

Evertonian - "Sorry Gordon, but your two years are up. Fuck off"

The place fell into disarray. Even Lee was laughing.

To be fair to Gordon. He did a decent job, but anyone stepping into the hot seat at Goodison round about then was having to contend with the Shite starting to make their mark in Europe and They were just not given the funds to compete.

An awful time for Evertonians, We'd been top dogs in this city for so long, but it was to get worse. We couldnt have known how much of an impact events of the late seventies would have in shaping the destinies of these two clubs

I cannot think of too many times we got the rub of the green or got a big decision go our way apart from Limpars penalty against Wimbledon.

Neither can I recall of a big decision costing our neighbours a trophy or three points.

Sadly we'll never see their likes again, they brought us joy, proper players and real characters too.

I was a kid at the time and started supporting Everton under Lee.

Never thought he was anything other than a gentleman and was seriously unlucky not to achieve more with the club.

The iconic statues were flooded with light to launch the club's Blue Crimbo campaign on Thursday evening and are set to remain a fixture of the city's skyline throughout the next month.

Just 4 days later, the Devil's Own hit back in the derby and it took us months to recover from it in the Premier League.

Remembering the never-ending final: Everton, Aston Villa and the three games to decide the 1977 League Cup

Well worth a read.

Paul ( the author ) really captures the feeling around those three finals, although his experiences were a lot more adventurous and funnier than mine.You brought back a lot of memories Paul, unfortunately with a very sad ending.

Load cheers, then the “how wide is your arse shout” from loads of drunken adult men, and I knew it was only a matter of time (2 minutes) before Chelsea would score!

I always think it's better when they hate us, although most of the phoney bastards will never admit it, because they are way too smug? If we can take the smiles off their faces, that's when their guard comes down, but we shouldn't be lighting the liver birds up blue, even if those medals say we owned it f..k.ng first!

I remember counting off every five minutes of the game as a minor victory. We were looking really good for an incredible win until that cruel finale. Wasn't that Shearer screamer yet another MoTD Goal of the Season winner that was awarded for a goal scored against us?

Yobo, who had looked increasingly imperious for us with each passing game until then, was never quite the same player in Everton Blue after that for me.

Unbelievable!!