Howard Kendall: The man who restored pride to Everton

Howard Kendall has died at the age of 69

THERE are so many different ways to try and put into context just how brilliant a manager Howard Kendall was for Everton, yet one fact jumps out.

 

It is not simply the tactical acumen that helped build an outstanding team or his ability to then inspire his players to break Liverpool’s monopoly in the mid 1980s.

Instead, consider this. Howard Kendall was just 38 when Everton lifted the championship under his guidance in 1985 for the first time in 15 years.

And he was just 40 when he did it all over again two years later.

If that does not show just how sharp his mind was, how he was ahead of his rivals in so many ways, then nothing does.

 

Kendall played for Everton before managing them

It is true that across Stanley Park, Kenny Dalglish was just 35 when Liverpool won the double in his first season in management, beating Kendall’s side in the FA Cup Final at Wembley.

But Dalglish became player-manager with Liverpool while they were in their pomp.

Kendall built a team up and up and up, emerging unscathed through bleak times when he came under pressure from supporters, from scratch.

He brought not just silverware to Everton, but gave the club its pride back.

 

Kendall had three spells as Everton manager

As the Everton, Merseyside and the wider football world mourns the passing of a managerial great and a greater man today, Kendall’s achievements deserve the widespread recognition that will now follow.

Everton was his club, one he served with such distinction as a player between 1967 and 1974 and then briefly again in 1981 before then-chairman Philip Carter appointed him as manager.

Two further spells as manager were fleeting and not as successful, but Kendall’s feats in also winning the FA Cup in 1984 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1985 means he stands unsurpassed in Everton’s history.

But for the ban on English clubs in Europe following the Heysel disaster, it is quite possible the team Kendall lead with assistant Colin Harvey could have continued to cut a swathe in Europe.

 

Kendall with the European Cup Winners' Cup

My first season covering Merseyside for newspapers coincided with Kendall’s third spell at the helm in 1997-98 when Everton stayed up in the final day of the season.

If he was not the manager of his peak, then there remained no disguising his love for Everton. 

Goodison Park, his beloved Goodison, will be raw and emotional this afternoon when Everton play host to Manchester United.

On a day like this there is only one result that is fitting.