Everton’s most-successful captain Kevin Ratcliffe details Colin Harvey’s role in the Blues rise in the 1980s on the Goodison Park legend’s 80th birthday
Colin Harvey turns 80 today and Everton’s most-successful captain Kevin Ratcliffe has cited the impact of his “immense intensity” as being a big factor in the forging of the club’s glory days in the mid-1980s. Harvey was born in Fazarkerley on November 16, 1944, and in July 2023, Everton super fan David France hailed him as being: “The greatest living Evertonian.’”
Ratcliffe reckons the True Blue who served the club as a player, coach and manager, played a pivotal role in their rise under the stewardship of his former midfield colleague Howard Kendall. Speaking exclusively in March this year on the first edition of the Royal Blue podcast’s Goodison Park: My Home series created to mark the countdown to Everton’s historic stadium move, Ratcliffe told the ECHO: “Colin Harvey getting promoted from reserve team coach to first team coach, that was the big one for me. We also had Andy Gray coming into the squad and Peter Reid getting to play, they were strong characters and Colin was a strong character of high standards, not just on the pitch but in training.
“That all changed. Mick Heaton (who Kendall had brought with him from Blackburn Rovers) was a lovely fella but it was a little bit too relaxed. The intensity with Colin was immense. I’d known that because I’d come through as an apprentice, then he’d taken me as youth team coach and then he was my reserve team coach.
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“So Colin knew everything about me. I think it was a big shock to some of the older lads at the time, especially with the way he used to talk to some people.
“He didn’t give two hoots who you were, what you’d done in the game or how much you’d signed for. He was a bit like the groundsman Dougie Rose in that respect, he was brilliant because you’d come in and it didn’t matter how many years you’d been there, he’d greet you with: ‘Morning, you still here?’”
Kendall and Harvey, who with Alan Ball had been part of Everton’s fabled midfield ‘Holy Trinity’ in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were both still in their 30s when Ratcliffe was coming through as a first team player. While Kendall turned out regularly for the reserves during his early years as Blues boss, Harvey, who had been forced to hang up his boots due to a persistent hip injury, had not lost his edge, even if he couldn’t play anymore.
Ratcliffe said: “Howard was great… when you had the ball – that was the same in training by the way – but he wasn’t so great at getting the ball back anymore. His qualities, his first touch and his awareness were still there and you could see why he’d been a great player.
“Colin couldn’t run, that was the only reason he couldn’t play, otherwise I’m sure he would have. The pain he must have been going through and he still trained.
“He put himself through it with head tennis. He was still competitive.
“That’s the one thing if somebody asked me ‘what do you think about Colin?’ Competitiveness, you knew that’s what he was all about.
“I always remember him saying, especially to midfield players: ‘If you’re going through a bad period in the game, just sit on your man for five-or-10 minutes, just do the easy things to get yourself back in the game.’ I thought: ‘What a great bit of advice.’
“I don’t see that now. If somebody is having a bad game, they try and do some world-beating stuff, an amazing pass or a shot from miles out, just get yourself back in the game.
“You need to get on your man and make sure he doesn’t have an impact on the game. If you’re not playing well, make sure he doesn’t.”
When Ratcliffe lifted the FA Cup at Wembley in 1984 after the 2-0 victory over Watford, the 23-year-old became the competition’s youngest winning skipper since West Ham United’s Bobby Moore some 20 years earlier. While the former Wales international remains in the dark as to why he was handed the responsibility at such a tender age, he again believes that Harvey must have held some sway with Kendall over the big decision.
Ratcliffe said: “I got thrown the captain’s armband on a pre-season tour up at Dundee United. Higgy (Mark Higgins, Everton’s previous captain) sat out the match and he threw me the armband.
“When you think that team including most of the players from among ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (when Kendall made seven signings during his first summer in charge) while Dave Johnson had been brought in so I was looking around thinking: ‘Why me?’
“I still don’t know to this day why he did it but I’m sure Colin had a big influence in that. Colin was directly involved in the first team at that stage and was still with the reserves but he must have said something. Howard must have seen leadership qualities in me or something he wanted, you don’t have to be the greatest player in the team to be captain but there are certain qualities that you do need.
“When you’re picking a captain, I think you’ve got to look for consistency and someone who is a leader, obviously. The consistency means that you’re playing every game and you are on that teamsheet but unfortunately we’ve not had that for a while (Seamus Coleman has played in just five of Everton’s Premier League games this season).”
