Colin Harvey As Everton Manager: An Appreciation

Know what we were missing in the late 80s? Colin Harvey, the footballer.

As a coach, he may have been excellent – but not having watched him coaching, I haven't a clue.

As a manager, he failed – end of.

When he failed, I was in my mid-30s, having always revered him as a small but really brilliant midfielder. "White Pele" was outrageously OTT to anyone who'd actually seen the Black Pele in the '60s though.

Colin wasn't even a patch on Alan Ball however, and neither was Howard Kendall.

As more than a few others have said down the years, a few seasons of John Moores's ownership aside, our club has consistently been led for many decades by owners and boardrooms of extraordinary incompetence, so maybe we should actually just name the new stadium after Kenwright, for being the very worst leader ever?

With Moshiri as owner, don't bet against it!

Colin, like me, would hang his head in shame though.

Being a manager is or was about wheeling and dealing, psychology, motivation, tactical analysis. It's an entirely different skill set. If you look at Howard's result pre Harvey clearly Harvey made a huge impact as a coach.

Likewise you've got just from Man Utd MacLaren, Kidd and Querioz all respected coaches but poor managers. In contrast there is Wenger who according to Dixon and Adams never even went to the training ground.

When Kendall left, I think sentiment and the desire to promote from within propelled Harvey into the hot seat. But it's a bit like having a brilliant car mechanic and giving him the top office when the GM of the dealership leaves.

In fairness to Carter, it seemed like a no-brainer as Kendall and Harvey had a great partnership and were both Everton legends. But in closer inspection they had different skill sets.

It's a shame Harvey had to take on the impossible task of following Howard post-Heysel. I'm not old enough to have seen Harvey the player so my introduction to him was as the guy not as good as Howard.

Over time with his later work as a coach in the academy and as I browsed old videos and read up I realized he was far more than just another Mike Walker. But as I say it's a shame. No doubt he wanted the job, Howard probably thought it made sense, as did fans and Carter, but he was just ill-suited to that role.

Colin Harvey was a crap manager, was he? What were our league positions under his three seasons of management? 4th, 9th and 6th and we got to the FA Cup Final of 1989 too.

You are taking garbage, mate, he had to deal with losing Trevor Steven and Gary Stevens when Kendall got off to Bilbao.

I can confirm that there wasn't much dissent against his appointment at the time. Certainly among my circle, we thought it was a natural progression, like the RS 'boot room'.

I like this piece even though it makes me sad, because even though I didn't believe it at the time, in hindsight, it was the start of our decline.

The '84 through '87 teams were always going to be hard to emulate if we didn't build on them. We didn't.

To that end, a very good point about identifying replacements early. Something we have never really been too good at. In 1988, we brought in Nevin, McCall, Cottee (a coup at the time given he chose us over Arsenal) and Neil McDonald.

It gave us hope, but the reality was that we had our expectations raised. As good players as they were, they were not quite of the standard we had been accustomed to for an all too brief period.

It was fantastic to experience. Memories that will never go away.

For the younger audience, we still haven't replaced Lukaku and have, for 2 years or so, put all of our eggs in the Dominic Calvert-Lewin basket.

Bracewell. What a shame that we didn't see more of him due to injury. I'll say no more on Sheedy other than in the context of this post, he played some of his best football in what we would now call the Number 10 position in later seasons.

There is a lot of talk about the double free-kick take against Ipswich, but I still see him almost in slow motion against Bayern Munich when I regularly watch the footage, with the cauldron of Goodison at boiling point pressure.

The calmest person in Goodison Park. Takes his time, slips an outside-of-the-boot pass through to Andy Gray for him to square to Stevens. The rest, most of us probably don't remember.

Back to 87-88. We were relying on a team that we trusted. At the time, only Liverpool had won more league titles than Everton.

Liverpool went out and bought in Barnes, Beardsley in his prime, Aldridge to replace Rush and the often under-rated Ray Houghton.

I never cared for Aldridge. Partly influenced by my paternal family who grew up living next to his family in the Garston Tenements. And partly because I used to bump into him a bit as he lived around the corner when I lived in Woolton. Arrogant and if you ever want an example of an entitled Kopite, he is textbook. "Do you know who I am?" Prick.

Sorry.

They were pretty much out of sight by Christmas that season and equalled our 90 points.

Everton has always had an issue with branding in the national media. I remember talking to my cousin about it as we hit success. For whatever reason, Tottenham were the media darlings as we stormed towards the league title in late 1985. Just like we upset their plans in the 1995 semi-final at Elland Road. We just don't get attraction from the national media, despite having a lot of respect from opposition supporters. They have their favourites.

I almost don't want to dwell, but Heysel hit us harder than most. We had a team that was about to compete on the highest European platform and we were denied the opportunity. I can't forgive them. I never will.

But although it is a factor, we can't use it as the complete excuse. Other clubs suffered the same fate because of them, but went on to better times.

Different times, but in 1987-88, we finished 4th. At the time, considered a disappointment.

And small victories, but Wayne Clarke and Everton being the ones to stop them achieving the invincible tag before Arsenal did years later.

I walked all the way back from Goodison to Middle Way in Croxteth that day, where I was staying with my Aunty at the time.

Thank you for the memories, Larry.

Harvey signed Ian Wilson. Kendall would never have just allowed his side to rest on their laurels like that. He would have bought and replaced popular players like he did in '84, '85 and '86.

Harvey never got to grips with the Sharp, Ratcliffe, Snodin bullying click. Again, Kendall would never have allowed that. It was all about the team.

As for his signings, he just simply bought poorly. I wanted him to sign Daley Stein and Gascoigne. We got Nevin, McCall, Cottee and McDonald instead.

Looking back, he was our Souness. Took over a Championship winning side and left it also-rans. He also spent the same amount of money in 3 years that Kendall spent in 6 years.

I went from playing two touch five a side, with the smallest goals imaginable, meaning the best (usually only) way to score, was from a little cutback, and If I shut my eyes I can still hear Clough now, screaming, score a fucking five a side goal.

No disrespect but the Everton players didn't really know how to play 5 a side, (no big problem, football is eleven aside anyway) but they were very well versed in keeping possession, something that most sessions revolved around.

I remember thinking Harvey's Everton, played some great football, but often lacked a real cutting edge. Loads of possession but sometimes possession without enough purpose. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me?

Another poor signing was Milligan from Oldham who was a flop and returned to Oldham one year later after a handful of first team games.

Yet there were a few matches when we cut loose. The most obvious example was the 5-0 win at Hillsborough in the third replay of the FA Cup tie. Unfortunately they were the exception to the rule.

That was my first season as a season ticket holder. The only game I missed was because of a trip to RAF Laarbruch in West Germany.

From memory, 20 home games. 15 wins, 4 draws and the solitary defeat v Arsenal last home game.

We were dreadful away though.

The key metric seems to be that picked up by John Raftery and Tony Abrahams: we were pleasing on the eye, solid defensively, but with a relatively (compared to the highest standards) poor attacking edge, related to the slower speed of play.

It might seem fanciful to think there are lessons here for today but maybe there are, and certainly think Dyche is not the tactical dinosaur he has been labelled. Our successful 80's sides were very well organised and defensively sound--he can do that. Garner in midfield I have hopes of, and who knows about Danjuma? If he comes good, and Onana learns where the goal is, the midfield may not be that bad. We were at our best when goals came from everywhere (Lineker an aberration): but sadly with Maupay they will come from nowhere. Not Dyche's fault, but a gaping hole in any project for improvement: our 84/5 side was so good because we played mostly in the opponents half: the Gegenpresse I think they call it now. That way, goals can be spread around. But we do nonetheless need a couple of strikers...As any fule know!

However, no one seems to comment on Kendall's treachery in leaving - for Athletic Bilbao????? Of course, I loved the man, but never understood why he would want to leave Everton (I felt the same way about Alan Ball when he was sold to Arsenal).

To me, it was Kendall's departure, rather than Harvey's appointment, which was the most significant factor in our decline...

The Gwladys Street stand had a roof for the first time and all we had first day was Paul power knocking one in. Kinda knew our moment was over. Love Colin, but don't try to reappraise what happened using current data and judgement standards. He needed to bolster the squad, and failed to do so.

Larry, you capture a lot of good points. Rather than me harping on about the 80s, Dyche's team played some decent stuff at times last season. The stand out for me was defending stoutly but then smashing the much lauded Brighton on the counter on their own patch.

I get your point, Richard, but I would hardly call it treachery. Howard was denied the chance to take his all-conquering team into Europe's biggest competition twice. Yes, not the biggest move, but rumours were he was being lined up for the Barcelona job at the time. And maybe, just maybe, he could see what was coming and Everton weren't going to build on their success. Echoes of Ancelotti knowing what was around the corner?

Despite the ban, it didn't stop Alex Ferguson and Manchester United, who were behind us at the time, but were investing and building.

Howard came back twice. Once when he had a decent gig at Maine Road and had no reason to move. But he did. The other when we basically couldn't get anyone else. He couldn't resist but was a shadow of his former self and the club was in free fall.

Colin Harvey has served Everton as a supporter, player, coach, manager and youth coach leader. Not many of us can claim that.

Kevin & Roy, it was and has subsequently been proven at various levels throughout the club, that Colin Harvey was a coach. And a damn good one. Maybe not a manager. Not everyone is cut out for that.

I have long since stopped blaming managers (within reason) and more looked at how the club is and has been run.

I was just lamenting a lost opportunity to stay great. As you said, Man Utd were investing and building. We weren't. The first steps on the road to our current free fall.

Pains me to say it (as not for us) but Arteta might be the next…. though him and Guardiola have had money unlike Kendall and Clough.

It also always makes me laugh to hear Shearer and that toe-rag Murphy criticising managers: neither of them could park a car straight…

Also, I think we played Sheffield Wednesday about three times in the FA Cup before tonking them 5-0.

I think he presided over the decline of the team of the mid-eighties, but the lack of European football probably didn't help.

I had a text just sent to me, from my wife who's at her work's premises.

”Kevin Ratcliffe is at our offices today”

Ratcliffe! One of the best players this club has ever had!

One of the reasons Howard Kendall left for Bilbao was that he had already started to succumb to that Illness and the club were aware of it and also the loss of key players left an air of depression around the club which only a rebuild could solve.

Although at the time Harvey was considered a failure, his league record stood above Mike Walker, Kendall Mk 2 and Mk 3 and Walter Smith – and for that matter, Big Joe – even though he did win the FA Cup.

I think the Cottee fee was £2.2M. The other two bought that summer of 1988 were Stuart McCall and Pat Nevin for £850k and £925k respectively. The fee for Neil McDonald was £525k. So the total outlay was £4.5M.

Mike Walker, Howard Kendall Mk 2 & 3, Walter and Big Joe didn't have the good fortune of taking over an Everton side who were League Champions.

The dark side brought in quality players, while we brought in average-at-best players, going on from Harvey's time at Everton. I found an article on Joe Royle's time as manager which I hope you do not mind pasting on here – boy was Royle unlucky with injuries, but an interesting last paragraph, why Johnson refused to give Royle the money for Flo.

Joe Royle returned to Goodison Park in November 1994, hailed as a hero by the fans and the club he holds so dear to his heart. Mike Walker had led Everton to the brink of relegation in just 11 months and when Royle took over, the club was stranded at the bottom of the Premiership with just eight points from 14 games. Joe arrived on the back of 12 years of success on a shoe-string budget at Oldham Athletic where he led the Latics to the top flight, two FA Cup semi-finals and a League Cup Final appearance.

The story of how Joe then transformed the Blues almost instantaneously is legendary. In his very first match in charge Everton beat arch rivals Liverpool 2-0 with Duncan Ferguson scoring his first goal in the royal blue jersey and the recovery was underway. Three wins on the trot put Everton on the road to safety as Royle's men adopted the famous Dogs of War attitude.

Premiership survival was assured the following April alongside a remarkable FA Cup run that saw the Blues unrivalled spirit, determination and guile take them all the way to a Wembley triumph, seeing off Newcastle, Tottenham and Manchester United to lift the famous old trophy for the fifth time in their history. It was a quite remarkable achievement for a manager's first season in charge and he was lauded as the messiah who was going to lead the Toffees to emulate the golden period of the mid-1980s.

The 1995-96 campaign was a time of instability and rebuilding. The superb Andrei Kanchelskis was brought in from Manchester United but he was to spend six crucial weeks on the sidelines with a dislocated shoulder sustained, coincidentally, against United. When Kanchelskis was fit, Ferguson wasn't available, either through suspension or through injury. Then, a Glasgow jury found him guilty of assault for a head-butting incident while Duncan was at Rangers and the giant striker was to spend three months in Barlinnie prison. In his absence, the Royle revival continued and Kanchelskis went on to score 16 goals in 33 appearances during an electric spell after the New Year.

Unfortunately, the absence of these two stars meant that Everton struggled in the European Cup Winners' Cup and were eventually squeezed out by Dutch side Feyenoord – with future Everton boss Ronald Koeman in the lineup – by a goal to nil. Nevertheless, the side put together a run of games in the league that equalled the club's run of matches without conceding a goal and it seemed as though the building blocks were being put in place.

Some hiccups against the likes of Wimbledon and Leeds did enough to derail a challenge for a UEFA Cup place that eventually went to the wire and Everton missed out on the prized fifth position on goal difference. Dennis Bergkamp's 84th minute winner for Arsenal against Bolton on the final day of the season sent the Gunners into Europe at the Toffees' expense.

Nevertheless, optimism was as high as it had been for years during the 1996 close-season. Euro '96 came and went but the expected flurry of activity in the European transfer market never happened. The names of players like Russian midfielder Ilya Tsymbalar were bandied about in connection with Everton but Royle's first foray into the big league of transfer negotiations bore little fruit. Gary Speed was signed for £3.5m — another Evertonian coming home to roost — and Paul Gerrard arrived for £1.5m when a bid for Crystal Palace goalkeeper Nigel Martyn fell through at the last minute. Martyn, embarrassingly, was entertained at the headquarters of Park Foods in Birkenhead, was shown the way to Leeds United and the Everton administration wound up with egg on its face.

And it was here that the cracks began to show. The beginning of the season again demonstrated just how much Joe Royle's Everton relied on spirit and confidence. The new season brought three encouraging results against Newcastle, Manchester United and Tottenham as the team found inspiration in the opportunity to build on the previous season that lay ahead. However, three consecutive defeats helped ruin that dream and — a 7-1 humiliation of Southampton aside — Everton failed to recapture the form with which they started 1996-97.

Christmas 1996 brought forth only bad tidings. Andy Hinchcliffe, Kanchelskis, Watson, Short, Parkinson, Grant and Ebbrell were all on the treatment table and a run of 7 games without a win between 23 December and 1 February, with an embarrassing 3-2 defeat at home to Bradford in the FA Cup thrown in for good measure, placed serious question marks over Joe's ability to lead his side out of its crisis. Failed bids for players like Carlton Palmer did little to inspire confidence and the performances deviated all too rarely from the route-one style of play that ultimately led to dissipation of the fans' faith.

The 2-0 defeat by Manchester United in a match the Blues had dominated so overwhelmingly was the last straw for many Evertonians who had previously supported Royle to the hilt. Perhaps the writing was finally on the wall and it took a disagreement with the chairman over transfers to make up Joe's mind that perhaps his time had come.

History has it that Peter Johnson refused to sanction the signing of Norwegian defender Claus Eftevaag — ostensibly a makeweight in a larger deal to acquire his striking compatriot Tore Andre Flo — after Flo himself turned down the move at the last minute. His ultimatum to Royle had the obvious consequence of the manager's resignation.

Johnson's view of this crucial episode was that, as the season continued, it was clear that Joe was getting panicky. While Joe had managed the club, Johnson had never questioned any of his signings but, just before the March 1997 transfer deadline, Royle informed Johnson that he wanted to sign Flo. In order to do so, he had to sign Eftevaag who was somewhat older and would cost £2m. Crucially, this all involved the Norwegian Agent that led to George Graham's demise at Arsenal...

Flo was playing for Norway at the Confederation Cup in Dubai and there would have been a real rush to get him signed before the deadline for £4m. Eftevaag failed a medical, but Royle still wanted to sign him as he really wanted Flo. So, faced with the guaranteed signing of a potentially unfit player and the non-guarantee of signing Flo, Johnson refused Royle for the first time.

Royle was shocked, walked out and came back 30 minutes later to resign. Johnson reluctantly accepted, later admitting that if he had persuaded him to stay, the club might have been relegated.

Royle's managerial legacy at Goodison will always be the dramatic fashion in which he turned a team from relegation certainties to top-6 challengers for Europe and, of course, the single trophy that Everton won in the 1990s.

Had his squad not been decimated by injuries in late 1996, who knows what might have happened, but fate intervened and Royle seemingly lost the plot. Dave Watson assumed temporary control and arrested the slide towards Division One.