It’s time to put an end to the Anfield agony
30PT INTER BLKCOND 30PT INTER CAMPBELL’S CALL FOR NEW HERO
CAMPBELL 500
IT MAY be closing in on 22 years but Kevin Campbell will never forget the image.
“I remember seeing the Blues in the Kop end celebrating the goal,” said the former Everton striker.
“I will take that memory to my grave.”
It was September 27, 1999, and the goal Campbell is talking about was his fourth-minute winner against Liverpool at Anfield.
Remarkably, he remains the last man in a Toffees shirt to seal a victory across Stanley Park in the Merseyside derby.
“That is the thing about the city, you have families split down the middle,” said Campbell, ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Anfield.
“Sometimes mum is a Blue and dad is a Red.
So they go to the match together and enjoy the game as a family.
“I thought it was brilliant to see Blues fans celebrating in the
Kop.”
Campbell, right, had joined Walter Smith’s Everton the previous March at 29 and suffered defeat in his first taste of the Merseyside derby, but this time it would be different.
“The build-up was very intense, because for the first time in a long time Everton had a side with the experience and ability to compete with Liverpool,” he said.
“We set about them early on and scoring so early can either work for or against you,
because sometimes you wake them up even more, but getting our noses in front was really important on the day.” Everton were happy to sit on their lead, before tempers boiled over.
Kop goalkeeper Sander Westerveld and Francis Jeffers saw red after exchanging blows, which left Steve Staunton needing to go in goal for the Reds, who had used their subs.
One of those was teenager Steven Gerrard, who also got his marching orders late on for a lunge on Campbell.
It led to a hilarious tale told by Gerrard in 2014 of how the same night in 1999 he was in a bar on the city’s Albert Dock and bumped into Campbell in the toilets.
Kop legend Gerrard said the 6ft Campbell dropped his trousers to show him the stud marks he left on his leg during their impromptu meeting. “We went out after as a team to
celebrate,” said Campbell. “I went to the toilet and there was Steven Gerrard.
“There was nobody else there – just him at the urinals. I could have gone either side but I remember I thought, ‘I’ll go up beside him’.
“He did a double-take and he probably thought I was going to go for him.
“I wished him well, I was just happy we won.”
Little did that Everton side know they would be the last ones to celebrate a victory there for more than two decades.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side will hope to finally end that Anfield hoodoo tomorrow against the champions, who have not won at home this year.
Campbell said: “For probably 20 years
I’ve said I don’t want this record, so maybe if I go the other way and say I want to keep it then finally someone will take that bit of history off me.”