View source for Graeme Sharp

{{short description|Scottish footballer and manager}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name           = Graeme Sharp
| image          = Graeme Sharp 2018.jpg
| caption        = Sharp in 2018
| fullname       = Graeme Marshall Sharp<ref>{{Hugman|17767|access-date=17 March 2017}}</ref>
| birth_date     = {{birth date and age|df=y|1960|10|16}}
| birth_place    = [[Glasgow]], Scotland
| height         = {{height|ft=6|in=1}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Rothmans Football Yearbook: 1981–82 |publisher=Queen Anne Press |year=1981 |isbn=0-362-02046-9 |editor-last=Rollin |editor-first=Jack |location=London |pages=152 |oclc=868301130}}</ref>
| position       = [[Forward (association football)|Forward]]
| currentclub    = 
| years1         = 1978–1980
| clubs1         = [[Dumbarton F.C.|Dumbarton]]
| caps1          = 40
| goals1         = 17
| years2         = 1980–1991
| clubs2         = [[Everton F.C.|Everton]]
| caps2          = 322
| goals2         = 111
| years3         = 1991–1997
| clubs3         = [[Oldham Athletic A.F.C.|Oldham Athletic]]
| caps3          = 107
| goals3         = 30
| years4         = 1997
| clubs4         = [[Bangor City F.C|Bangor City]]
| caps4          = 0
| goals4         = 0
| totalcaps      = 469
| totalgoals     = 158
| nationalyears1 = 1982
| nationalteam1  = [[Scotland national under-21 football team|Scotland U21]]
| nationalcaps1  = 1
| nationalgoals1 = 1
| nationalyears2 = 1985–1988
| nationalteam2  = [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]]
| nationalcaps2  = 12
| nationalgoals2 = 1
| manageryears1  = 1994–1997
| managerclubs1  = [[Oldham Athletic F.C.|Oldham Athletic]]  
| manageryears2  = 1997–1998
| managerclubs2  = [[Bangor City F.C.|Bangor City]]
}}
'''Graeme Marshall Sharp''' (born 16 October 1960) is a Scottish former professional [[association football|football]] player and [[manager (association football)|manager]]. Sharp played as a [[forward (association football)|forward]] for [[Dumbarton F.C.|Dumbarton]], [[Everton F.C.|Everton]], [[Oldham Athletic A.F.C.|Oldham Athletic]] and [[Bangor City F.C|Bangor City]]. He enjoyed great success with Everton, helping them win [[list of English football champions|English league championships]] in [[1984–85 in English football|1985]] and [[1986–87 in English football|1987]], the [[FA Cup]] in [[1984 FA Cup Final|1984]] and the [[European Cup Winners' Cup]] in [[1985 European Cup Winners' Cup Final|1985]]. He made 12 international appearances for [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]], and was selected in their [[1986 FIFA World Cup|1986 World Cup]] squad.

Sharp moved to [[Oldham Athletic A.F.C.|Oldham Athletic]] in 1991, and helped the newly-promoted club stay in the top flight for three seasons. He was appointed [[player-manager]] of Oldham in November 1994, but he left the club in March 1997 with them on the verge of being relegated to the third tier. Sharp was then player-manager of Welsh club [[Bangor City F.C.|Bangor City]] for a year. He has since worked in media coverage of football and as a club ambassador for Everton.

==Club career==
===Everton===
Sharp was born in [[Glasgow]]. He started his playing career at [[Dumbarton F.C.|Dumbarton]] before signing for [[Everton F.C.|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 in English football|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 [[Cup Winners' Cup|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 F.C.|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.<ref>{{cite web| title=Greatest Ever Everton team| work=evertonfc.com| url=http://www.evertonfc.com/history/greatest-ever-everton-team.html| access-date=23 February 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204202850/http://www.evertonfc.com/history/greatest-ever-everton-team.html| archive-date=4 February 2012| url-status=dead}}</ref>

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 (footballer)|Paul Wilkinson]], [[Adrian Heath]] (also a midfielder) and then [[Wayne Clarke (footballer)|Wayne Clarke]] before the arrival of £2million [[Tony Cottee]] for the start of the [[1988–89 in English football|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 F.C.|Nottingham Forest]] in the [[Full Members Cup]] final (in which Sharp scored a goal) and then they were beaten 3–2 by Liverpool in [[1989 FA Cup Final|the second all Merseyside FA Cup final]] in four seasons.

Despite the arrival of another striker – [[Mike Newell (footballer)|Mike Newell]] – a year later, Sharp remained a regular player with 33 games and six goals in the [[1989–90 in English football|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 in English football|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 in English football|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 (footballer born 1955)|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.evertonfc.com/stats|title=So Close... - Everton Football Club|website=www.evertonfc.com|access-date=30 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329173009/http://www.evertonfc.com/stats/|archive-date=29 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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 F.C.|Southampton]] in October 1987, his first Everton hat-trick in a 5–2 home win over [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]] in December 1986, a hat-trick in an FA Cup fourth round win at [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday]] in January 1988 and a hat-trick against [[Wrexham A.F.C.|Wrexham]] in the League Cup during his final season on [[Merseyside]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://toffeeweb.com/history/records/hatricks.asp|title=ToffeeWeb - History - Everton Hat-tricks|website=toffeeweb.com}}</ref>

===Oldham Athletic===
[[Oldham Athletic A.F.C.|Oldham Athletic]] paid £500,000 for Sharp just after their promotion to the [[Football League First Division|First Division]] after a 68-year exile. He helped them finish 17th in [[1991–92 in English football|1991–92]], ensuring that they would be members of the new [[Premier League]]. He helped them avoid relegation on goal difference in [[1992–93 in English football|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 in English football|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 in English football|1994–95]] – a disappointing showing for a side who had retained all but one of their key players ([[Mike Milligan (footballer)|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 in English football|1995–96]] when Oldham finished 18th, and Sharp finally walked in March of [[1996–97 in English football|1996–97]] with Oldham on the verge of their imminent relegation to [[Football League Second Division|Division Two]].

===Bangor City===
After coaching Oldham Athletic, Sharp later served as manager of [[Bangor City F.C.|Bangor City]] in the [[League of Wales]] for one season and led the club to a [[Welsh Cup]] victory in May 1998.

==International career==
Sharp played 12 times for the [[Scotland national football team|Scotland national team]] between 1985 and 1988.<ref name = "SFA">{{SFA Profile|id=113825}}</ref> This included one appearance in the [[1986 FIFA World Cup|1986 World Cup]], in a goalless draw against [[Uruguay national football team|Uruguay]].<ref name = "SFA"/> Sharp scored one international goal, in a 1–1 draw with [[Malta national football team|Malta]].<ref name = "SFA"/>

==Style of play==
In a 2018 interview with ''FourFourTwo'', [[Robbie Fowler]] described Sharp as one of his heroes growing up, commenting: "Graeme Sharpe [''sic''] was a fantastic [[Forward (association football)#Centre-forward|centre-forward]]; he could hold up the ball, was good in the air and could finish with both feet." He was also regarded as being a good distributor of the ball, who was capable of creating scoring opportunities for other players as well as himself.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/robbie-fowler-i-was-happiest-my-career-when-i-got-chance-re-sign-liverpool-2006 |title=Robbie Fowler: "I was happiest in my career when I got the chance to re-sign for Liverpool in 2006" |publisher=FourFourTwo |date=24 May 2018 |access-date=7 June 2020 }}</ref>

==Other activities==
Sharp now works for the local press in [[Liverpool]] and radio for [[Radio City (Liverpool)|Radio City]] in the north-west of England and is one of the Everton Club Ambassadors alongside Ian Snodin and Graham Stuart.{{cn|date=December 2021}} In January 2022, he was appointed as one of the club's directors.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Graeme Marshall SHARP personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK|url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/DCJ7MFTmIX0QF6_qi9xp409jwE4/appointments|access-date=2022-01-17|website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk|language=en}}</ref>

==Honours==
'''Everton'''
*[[Football League First Division|First Division]]: [[1984–85 Football League|1984–85]], [[1986–87 Football League|1986–87]]
*[[FA Cup]]: [[1984 FA Cup Final|1983–84]]
*[[FA Community Shield|FA Charity Shield]]: [[FA Charity Shield|1984]], [[1985 FA Charity Shield|1985]], [[1986 FA Charity Shield|1986]], [[1987 FA Charity Shield|1987]]
*[[UEFA Cup Winners' Cup|European Cup Winners' Cup]]: [[1985 European Cup Winners' Cup Final|1984–85]]

'''Individual'''
*[[PFA Team of the Year]]: [[1987–88 Football League#First Division|1987–88 First Division]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Lynch |title=The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes |page=147}}</ref>
*[[List of Everton F.C. records and statistics|Everton Top Goal Scorer]]: [[1981–82 Football League|1981–82]], [[1982–83 Football League|1982–83]], [[1984–85 Football League|1984–85]], [[1987–88 Football League|1987–88]]
*[[BBC Goal of the Season|Goal of the Season]]: [[1984–85 Football League|1984–85]] {{small|vs. [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] ([[Merseyside Derby#Full list of results|Division One]])}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{NeilBrownPlayers|player/graemesharp}}
*[http://www.fitbastats.com/scotlandu21/player.php?playerid=94 Scotland U21 stats] at Fitbastats

{{Navboxes colour
| title = Awards
| bg    = gold
| fg    = navy
| list1 = 
{{1987–88 Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year}}
{{Goal of the Season}}
{{Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame}}
}}
{{Scotland Squad 1986 World Cup}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Graeme Sharp managerial positions
| list1 = 
{{Oldham Athletic A.F.C. managers}}
{{Bangor City F.C. managers}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Graeme}}
[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Scottish men's footballers]]
[[Category:Dumbarton F.C. players]]
[[Category:Everton F.C. players]]
[[Category:Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players]]
[[Category:Scottish football managers]]
[[Category:Oldham Athletic A.F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Scotland men's international footballers]]
[[Category:1986 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:Cymru Premier managers]]
[[Category:Premier League players]]
[[Category:English Football League players]]
[[Category:Bangor City F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Footballers from Glasgow]]
[[Category:Scottish Football League players]]
[[Category:Scotland men's under-21 international footballers]]
[[Category:Men's association football forwards]]