Colin Harvey - still my most favourite Everton player EVER - had his number 10 on the back of my shirt playing "centres and headers" on the fields in Crosby with my school mates. Even tried to copy his running style and his tackling from behind (although not as successful with the latter!).

Wonderful story Becky - you provide such sheer enjoyment in reading of their simple and lovely lives from way back when - thank you

Don’t these articles reveal a lost world almost?

Simple, down to earth people living their lives in a way that most of us could recognise, and a far cry from the world inhabited by the modern footballer.

Another lovely story thanks, Becky.

The idea of today's PL players holidaying with his mates, all crammed into a caravan owned by his nan in North Wales, causes me some mirth.

I'd forgotten about Colin's eye problem around the time of our 1970 Championship winning team. I recall there were real concerns he could have lost his sight in the infected eye.

What a player, what a servant to the club Colin was. And what another lovely lady in Maureen he married.

Well done again, Becky. Great read.

What's this business of him not being able to shoot?! The goal he scored from the edge of the penalty area in the match against West Brom that clinched the 69-70 league title was a cracker.

I wasn't naturally very good at football, but Harvey inspired me to spend hours and hours practicising ball skills, like ball juggling, and shooting and passing with both feet. I was still never very good, but improved a lot, then could dribble and pick a pass. Such inspiration is important for youngsters.

Harvey would grace any top side in the world, in any era.

They say behind every great man there is a great woman. I think the great Colin Harvey story shows that, in this case, its a true sentiment.

A super stylish player who fittingly made his senior début in a European cup tie for the Blues in the glamorous setting of the San Siro stadium against Inter Milan.

I watched him his whole time at Everton and I suppose that moment in the FA Cup semi at Burnden, when he skilfully placed THAT shot into the corner, was the one for me. A career of brilliance leading ultimately to the historic league title win in 1970.

That reference to their wedding day in January 1970 made me think! Fifty years ago this very month. Life has rocketed by. God bless Colin and his loving family.

What an innocent girl Maureen was and so in love with Colin, the places they went and drank in, I never knew The Legs of Man was a lovely little cocktail bar, and The Shaftsbury hotel in Mount Pleasant was a nice place to have a drink, then The Shakespeare club, all places we were used to were special to Maureen from a little town in Wales, as I said earlier, just the same as us, happy and content with what they had and not wanting to be in the limelight. All the better for being like that and better thought of for being so easy going.

So sad to hear about Maureen and Colin’s daughter, Joanna Marie, passing at such a young age. I hope they both continue to have many more happy years together.

Colin a brilliant footballer who most of think deserved many more caps than he was awarded, but that’s life and England’s loss.

Such different times then and it's great to read that Maureen and Colin were very happy together. Long may it continue.

Brings back many happy memories of the Shaftesbury and the Shakespeare Club.

Loved the bit about professional footballers not being particularly good dancers. There might have been one or two with some moves but I do remember seeing Jimmy Gabriel in St Pats social club many years ago proving the point. An early contender for 'dad dancer of the year' if ever there was one.

Love these articles Becky. Please keep them coming.

Natural born footballer who knew the value of hard graft.

Humble always, but Quite possibly the greatest Evertonian. His natural humility would disappear once he crossed the white line.

He just knew he could play.. and I mean properly play.

In general terms this is, depending in your age, how your Mum or your Nan lived. How far removed we are now - too far. How much we've lost - too much.

We all focus, probably too much, on just the goals scored and missed, the score, the result.

I'd like to thank her and all the wives for getting this historical and gender perspective down before it is lost.

Just on Maureen's comment that Ford workers were on £50-£60 a week, in 1970.

I wish; I was there in 1970 and our pay was £18 on days and £24 on nights!

I trained at Everton for a couple of months, which just happened to be Colin’s last 2/3 months in charge at Everton, and he amazed me when playing in the gym. He was tough, he was as fair as the age gap could allow, and he was Everton’s first team manager, rolling up his sleeves, talking, fighting, working, and just doing the thing he probably done best, which was just playing football.

I mostly trained with Mike Lyons, and couldn’t believe the stick he was taking for Everton’s poor form at the time. Lyons was a cracker, and he was getting loads, even though he had nothing to do with the first team, and his training sessions were both interesting and enjoyable, and much more technical, than you would have expected from a man who had played as a centre-back, for all his career.

Harvey’s training was also really good, and he struck me as much more of a coach, than a manager, especially because it was mostly “possession football” at Everton, and I thought Harvey’s team was very good until the final third, possibly because of the way the way they trained, and it’s why your comments really resonated Dave.

My abiding memory of those sessions in the gym, was that I’d have loved to have seen Colin Harvey play when he was younger, because even though he must have been at least 40, you could see how much pride he had in himself, because the effort he put into his game, to stay with us 20 year olds is something I still remember to this day.

I remember being very nervous as I walked slowly to the door before knocking. My two friends were standing behind urging me on. Colin’s mother answered.

‘Is Colin in please? We want to start his fan club’.
‘He’s not in son’, his mother said.
Brian, who was coming down the stairs shouted, ‘I’ll let you start one for me’.
‘No thanks’, we said and walked away, never to return.

Is it too late to start one now?

With reference to the famous Jimmy Stewart film about a giant white rabbit, and to one of the heroes of that day, the toy was instantly christened Harvey, and became a mascot on away days for a number of years afterwards.

This small piece of Everton history may still be lying hidden away in a Crosby attic somewhere.

For me personally, Colin Harvey is the best footballer I have ever seen in an Everton shirt, even shading Bally, "The White Pele" being a fitting description.

I think he's right up there with Dixie as one of the greatest Evertonians ever.