| NICK 'JUDAS' BARMBY! |
| THE JUDAS FACT FILE |
| BORN: HULL, 11 FEBRUARY 1974 HEIGHT: 170cm CLUBS: 1991-1995 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1995-1996 MIDDLESBROUGH 1996-2000 EVERTON 2000- LIVERPOOL |
 |
| WHY WE HATE JUDAS BARMBY |
| When Barmby signed for Everton in 1996 us Evertonians were pleased to see him arrive. After all, he was regarded as a good player, he was still only young, and he was our club's new record signing of �5.75M. He made his Everton debut on Monday 4th November 1996 in a match against Coventry City at Goodison Park live on Sky TV. He didn't really do much that night, infact he didn't really do that much in his first two seasons at Goodison Park. He scored a couple of goals, had a few good games, but there was nothing really remarkable about our �5.75M man! I remember being in the pub before Walter Smith's first game as Everton boss and we were trying to predict who he would pick to play. Everyone had their own opinions and then someone said, "What about Barmby?" The reply from everyone else was "Oh yeah, I forgot about him!" That could sum up Barmby's first two years at Everton. Anyway he did play and he was a regular first team player for Walter Smith's Everton. In Smith's first season as boss Everton struggled, a terrible home record and too many blank scorelines - Everton didn't score at Goodison Park in the League until their fifth attempt in a 4-1 defeat to Manchester United, and didn't score at the Gwladys Street End until a 5-0 victory over Middlesbrough in February! A home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on Easter Monday made Everton look certain relegation candidates until a super-human goal scoring effort of 9 goals in 8 games from Kevin Campbell took Everton to safety. Towards the end of that season Barmby too started to show a bit of good form, and with Campbell and Francis Jeffers on fire in front of goal we all looked forward to the next season. The next season kicked off with a home game against against the European Champions, Manchester United live on Sky TV. Everton got a creditable 1-1 draw and it was Barmby who forced Jaap Stam into scoring an own goal. That season Barmby went on to show the best form of his career. He was playing good football, providing great service to the front men and scoring plenty of goals himself. Barmby scored 10 goals in season 1999/2000 including a superb strike at The Stadium Of Light and a hat-trick in Everton's 4-0 victory at Upton Park. |