Everton clinched their eighth League Championship on May 6, 1985, but Derek Mountfield who opened the scoring in the 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers was left disappointed
The Everton team celebrate after their 2-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers had clinched the First Division League Championship at Goodison Park on May 6 1985. Back row (left to right): Kevin Richardson, Alan Harper, Neville Southall, Gary Stevens, Andy Gray, Derek Mountfield, Kevin Ratcliffe, Paul Bracewell, Peter Reid, Adrian Heath, Ian Atkins. Front row: Pat Van Den Hauwe, Graeme Sharp, Trevor Steven and Kevin Sheedy.
The Everton team celebrate after their 2-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers had clinched the First Division League Championship at Goodison Park on May 6 1985. Back row (left to right): Kevin Richardson, Alan Harper, Neville Southall, Gary Stevens, Andy Gray, Derek Mountfield, Kevin Ratcliffe, Paul Bracewell, Peter Reid, Adrian Heath, Ian Atkins. Front row: Pat Van Den Hauwe, Graeme Sharp, Trevor Steven and Kevin Sheedy.(Image: Bob Thomas Sports Photography via Getty Images)
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Never mind three consecutive goals being conceded in stoppage time, Everton believe they have missed out on three straight penalties, but is it any surprise?
Even in the Blues’ finest hour, when arguably their best-ever team clinched the eighth of their nine League Championships, 41 years ago today on May 6, 1985, legendary centre-half Derek Mountfield was left disappointed by a decision from football's authorities.
In what remains the most-successful season in Everton’s history as they also lifted the European Cup-Winners’ Cup and were denied the chance of a domestic double by Norman Whiteside’s extra time goal for Manchester United in the FA Cup final, Howard Kendall’s side clinched the title with five games to spare and would eventually have a 13-point gap between themselves and runners-up Liverpool, the biggest winning margin for an English domestic champion at the time.
Unlike the carefully choreographed presentations we see now on the final day of Premier League seasons, back then title-winning teams didn't have to wait until their last fixture to be handed the Football League trophy.
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When Liverpool succeeded Everton as champions in 1964, Bill Shankly’s side paraded around Anfield with a homemade replica dubbed ‘The Curlett Cup’ made by brothers Terry and Teddy Curlett, which was fashioned from a neighbour’s vase covered with pictures of players cut out of newspapers and with the top of a spindle off a banister on its lid.
The Blues didn’t go to such extremes but Scouser Mountfield, a lifelong Evertonian who was living the dream after standing on the Gwladys Street terraces as a youngster, admits he was left frustrated by the wait to get his hands on the silverware his side had secured.
Speaking in 2024 on his episode of Goodison Park: My Home, he told the ECHO: “If you’d have said when we were bottom of the table after losing our first two games with a minus four goal difference that we’d win the league by 13 points, clinching it with five games to spare, we’d have laughed at you. But those things happened.
“I remember the QPR game was Bank Holiday Monday. There were over 50,000 in Goodison Park.
“I managed to get in front of Sharpy and score the opening goal before he got the second. I remember the volley, it wouldn’t have been my goal nowadays, it would be an own goal by the keeper.
“It hit the crossbar then the back of his head and in the net. But I’m claiming it, it’s in the books.
“I’ve got a picture at home, it’s actually on my Twitter (X) profile, when I’d just scored my goal against QPR, I’ve got my back to the Park End with Andy Gray running in and Peter Reid jumping 14 foot in the air and the (Gwladys) Street End in the background is all stood up.
“I love that photograph, I love it. But my big disappointment is, why didn’t the Football League, knowing we were so far ahead, bring the trophy up that day and give it to us that night when there were over 50,000 in the ground?”
Derek Mountfield celebrates as Everton clinched the league title for the eighth time with a 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers at Goodison Park on 6 May 1985
Derek Mountfield celebrates as Everton clinched the league title for the eighth time with a 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers at Goodison Park on 6 May 1985(Image: Staff/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
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Mountfield, now 63, added: “That’s my big disappointment that season. We didn’t get it until the Wednesday against West Ham. It should have been there that afternoon on the Monday.
“We were miles ahead. Bring it up and do it properly, but they didn’t.
“I think that let us down that day. We needed to celebrate with 50,000 in the ground, not 32,000 on the Wednesday night.
“Those 50,000 should have seen it. The Football League in their infinite wisdom, didn’t do it.”