The Toffee's were comprehensively dispatched by the Red Devils thanks to goals from Morgan Schneiderlin (18) Ander Herrera (22) and Wayne Rooney (62) however this was deemed irrelevant when in the hours before the game news came through that Howard Kendall, Everton's greatest ever manager, had sadly passed away. It meant there was a sombre atmosphere at Goodison Park.
Legend is an overused word in football these days, but in the case of Howard Kendall, it is wholly appropriate.
Lest we forget that Howard Kendall was a fine player making over 200 appearances, after famously choosing to sign for the Blues instead of Liverpool.
My family had regaled this young blue with tales of his exploits as part of 'the holy trinity' with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey, but it as a manager his legend, for many, will live on.
Howard Kendall, who was Everton manager on three separate occasions, was responsible for putting together a team in the mid 1980's that won the league title in 1985 and 1987, the FA Cup in 1984 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1985.
Around 1983 is when my interest in football began in earnest, indeed my first game was the aforementioned 1984 cup final where somehow my Uncle acquired a pair of tickets for my dad and I. My immediate family were all blues so I guess it was my destiny!At the time our neighbours from across Stanley Park were the dominant team in Europe, so as you can imagine in school I was surrounded by loads of little Kopites who needed, and probably still do, a map to find their way to Anfield.
I was bought my first season ticket in the Autumn of 1984, just at the time things were beginning to stir at Goodison and the successful team Howard Kendall built allowed myself and every other Evertonian to hold their head up high and go toe-to-toe with the Kopites.
It was a genuinely sad day in 1987 when Howard Kendall left for Bilbao, and Everton went into quick decline, from which we have never really recovered. He returned for two further spells between 1990 - 1993 and 1997 - 1998 but it wasn't the same, indeed in 1998 Everton only survived relegation on goal difference from Bolton.
However, it is for that glorious period from 1984-1987 when Everton were the greatest team in the country (and possibly Europe) that Howard Kendall will be remembered by me, you made a small boy very happy indeed, for that for that I am eternally grateful. Rest In Peace.
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| Meeting the great man |
Some fine moments under the management of Howard Kendall...
1984 FA Cup Final
1985 "Bayern Munich"
1985 European Cup Winners Cup
1985 Champions (1) (2) (3)
1987 Champions
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