Scotland's rich relationship with Everton - and a controversial date in Liverpool

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They are the city’s senior team. “Walter said, ‘You’ll like Liverpool, it’s a proper football city.

Aged only 19, and with just a season or so behind him at Dumbarton, he was described as “an unknown” by the Liverpool Echo when he was signed by then manager Gordon Lee.Sharp and Co should have won more Scotland capsWhile he had to travel to Scotland for international games, eventually telling manager Andy Roxburgh only to pick him if he really needed him, now Scotland are coming to him. “It is one of the tragedies of football that Ferguson, (Jimmy) Gabriel, (Andy) Gray, Sharp and (Alex) Young… earned less than ten Scotland caps while playing for Everton,” writes Corbett in the Everton Encyclopedia.Despite the clocks change, Sharp took the notion to get up even earlier on Sunday morning to enjoy the highlights of Scotland’s last visit to Liverpool on Youtube.

He was days away from turning 17 and still playing for Eastercraigs boys' club when he watched the controversial 1977 World Cup qualifying decider between Wales and Scotland from Anfield on television.Graeme Sharp vies with Paul McGrath during an Everton v Manchester United match in 1985. | Getty Images“Watching it again, I thought: ‘Wow!’” he says. Tuesday’s game against Ivory Coast is far from pivotal on the road to North America, but it will help shape Clarke’s thinking.The trip re-establishes the manager’s own links to the city having spent 18 months as assistant manager to Kenny Dalglish, whose gliding header from Martin Buchan’s cross sealed Scotland’s qualification for the World Cup in 1978.