When the final whistle blew and Manchester City got their hands on the Champions League trophy for the first time, BT Sport’s commentary told us: “The greatest story in club football has an ending” but while that’s a heavily-loaded comment in itself, could this have possibly been Everton’s tale of glory instead had potential investors looked in a different direction some 15 years ago?
Many Kopites looked on with both envy and even disgust at City’s triumph and while no Evertonian needs reminding that the Blues have not enjoyed the same kind of love affair with the European Cup as their neighbours, Everton’s greatest side were denied their place dining at European football’s top table in 1985 because of the post-Heysel ban in an era when English clubs had won seven out of the previous nine finals, including six in a row between 1977-82. It was only last month when securing their seventh Premier League title – providing they don’t get any retrospectively expunged for their 115 alleged Financial Fair Play rule breaches – that City actually moved level with Everton on nine League Championships overall and while they look set to leave them firmly in their wake going forward, before their 2008 takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group, their achievements paled in significance to the other Blues at Goodison Park.
For many years before that watershed moment, the pair would be lumped together as the loyal but long-suffering fans of the ‘other’ club in a footballing hotbed city and it was a tag that many Evertonians resented when their own team were a beacon of consistency and an outfit who had enjoyed success over a prolonged period while City were often up and down like a yo-yo. Oh how times have changed…
