THEY P ARTIED.. AND IT’S 1999
Campbell: Seeing those Everton fans celebrating in the Kop is a memory I will take to my grave
EXCLUSIVE BY CHRIS McKENNA
IT may be almost 22 years ago but Kevin Campbell will never forget it.
“I remember seeing Everton fans in the Kop celebrating the goal,” said the former Goodison striker. “I will take that memory to my grave.”
It was September 27, 1999, and the goal Campbell was talking about was his fourth-minute winner against Liverpool at Anfield.
Remarkably, he remains the last man in an Everton 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 all-Mersey showdown 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 had joined Walter Smith’s Everton the previous March
‘In this city families can be split down the middle – mum can be a Blue, dad a Red’
and suffered defeat in his first taste of the Merseyside derby. But he remembers there was a feeling of confidence in the camp before the trip to Anfield.
“I remember the build-up being 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. Scoring so early can either work for you or against you because sometimes you wake your opponents up but getting our noses in front was really important on the day.”
Everton were happy to sit on their lead before tempers boiled over in the Monday-night clash under the Anfield lights.
Kop goalkeeper Sander Westerveld and Everton striker Francis Jeffers saw red after exchanging blows and Steve Staunton had to go in goal for the
Reds as they had used all their subs. One of those was a 19-year-old Steven Gerrard, who also got his marching orders late on for a horror lunge on Campbell.
It led to a hilarious tale told by Gerrard back in 2014 of how,
the very 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 six-foot Campbell dropped his trousers during their impromptu bathroom meeting to show him the stud marks he had left on his leg. “We went out as a team to celebrate,” recalled Campbell. “I went to the toilet, opened the door, and there was Steven Gerrard. “There was nobody else there, nobody else in the toilet – 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 probably thought I was going to go for him. I wished him well, I was just happy we got the win – you leave those things on the pitch.”
Campbell and his teammates enjoyed a good night out but little did they know they would be the last Everton players to celebrate a victory at the home of their great rivals for more than two decades.
Carlo Ancelotti’s current side will hope to finally end that hoodoo tomorrow evening against Jurgen Klopp’s faltering champions, who have not won at home this year.
“I didn’t expect to have this record for such a long time,” added Campbell.
“For more than 20 years I’ve said I don’t want this record, so maybe now if I go the other way and say I want to keep it then finally someone will take that bit of history off me.”
‘For the first time in a long time, Everton had a side with the experience and ability to compete with Liverpool’