If only we had somebody half as good now either in the hot seat or coming in. Things would be looking a lot better.

Due to unforeseen circumstances I couldn’t make it to Harry’s centenary, Imwould have loved to hear and enjoy football people who knew and worked alongside Harry and tell how he operated.

Harry Catterick, to me, was by far the best manager Everton ever had, he operated the way that was best for the club, his own man, and if it didn’t please some people, tough luck, as he said he didn’t look to please people, had no favourites, just did the job he was paid to do, in his own way, it worked for me as an Everton fan and I’m thousands of other Everton supporters.

It always irked me, and still does that people had the egotistic Liverpool manager as a better manager than Harry, no way, Harry was every bit as good, better to me, than the Liverpool manager, who was too much in love with himself for my liking, obviously my Everton bias coming into play there, but give me common sense and a quiet manner over showing off and looking for the limelight any day.

Thanks for the great times and wonderful football Harry, you’ll always be remembered by me and thousands of other Everton when we talk of the great Everton teams. So sorry I missed your memorial night.

Dave, I am hoping to put up an article or comment that will give you a flavour of the evening.

Peter (3)thanks Peter, I’d appreciate that, hope you had a good night, sorry I couldn’t make, thanks for the book, I will sort you out in the near future, thank you.

Dave (2), I suspect Bill Nicholson at Spurs would also have been miffed at the Press adulation for Shankly.
Everton have of course always gone for the quiet, reserved manager, and Catterick was always that. So of course is our present manager -- unfortunately he lacks all of Catterick's tactical and organisational skills!

Peter that would be welcomed. Those of us where Everton entered our lives during the Catterick era remember with great affection a man, who as outlined was very much his own person but as Howard Kendall pointed out, "his love of Everton and his dedication to the cause was unquestionable". Those of us lucky enough to have witnessed his brand of football at its best have never seen finer. Sadly overlooked by the media through his demeanour and character, but a fine manager and undoubtedly one of us. Oh for an appointment like him now.

Yes a great manager and a great eye for a player, the 69-70 team was sublime to watch. The only downside of the Catt was selling Alan Ball.

I had tears in my eyes when I heard he'd been sold to Arsenal. It was like losing a family member. I had a feeling in my gut like I'd swallowed a cannonball.

I spent a very enjoyable few hours at Goodison at the weekend. I also went to the match.

The pleasurable part was attending a function in The People’s Lounge on Friday evening to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harry Catterick. The event was put together by the Everton Heritage Society, entry included being given a book on Harry, written by Rob Sawyer, published by James Corbett’s deCoubertin Books. I had a word with Rob just after I got in, he said what a pleasure it had been to talk to Jimmy Dunn’s son for the article published recently on TW.

Members of the Catterick family were present, including daughter Joyce, they were very well received and serenaded with “The Ballad of Dixie Dean”. There were also good cameos from Ian Snodin, Ronnie Goodlass and Terry Darracott. Terry was one of a few speakers to comment on the fact that Harry spoke very little to the players, to the extent that when he was brought into the squad as a 17 year-old to possibly make his debut due to injuries to Ray Wilson and Sandy Brown, he had no idea whether he was going to play or not, much to the irritation of his Mum. Eventually, he was sent home earlier than usual on the Thursday afternoon, avoiding the usual boot cleaning and sweeping up. He was waiting at the bus-stop to go home to Huyton when a purple Ford Capri pulled up. It was Bill Shankly. “Son, are you playing on Saturday?”. “I’ve no idea, Mr Shankly”. “Son, you’re going home at one o’clock, I’m telling you, you’re playing”. When he got home his Mum asked “Are you playing?”. “Yes, Mum”. “How do you know?”. “Mr Shankly told me”!

The host for the evening was Ken Rogers, former Everton correspondent for The Echo. He had a wealth of stories, including the emotional tale of seeing Harry collapse after the FA Cup tie with Ipswich. He explained how he knew the leader of medical team who attended to him, he could see them 20 yards away from where he was phoning in his match report, working on Mr Catterick, and he eventually received a “thumbs up”. He was dictating his report that things were looking good, when he suddenly received a “thumbs down”. A tragic day for the family, and our club.

Ken introduced Gavin Buckland and Rob, who both wrote books about Harry. He also welcomed Lord Grantchester, grandson of Sir John Moores, and there was discussion about the nature of the working relationship between Moores and Catterick. Tellingly, they told of a question raised by a journalist to Moores upon Harry’s appointment – “You have dismissed Johnny Carey, who finished 4th. What will happen if Catterick’s team finish 4th”. Moores answered quite simply “He will be replaced”.

There was film of the 1966 FA Cup final, and Derek Temple was introduced to huge applause. Typically, he said “People say I scored the winning goal. I don’t look at it that way, I simply scored the third goal. Without Treb’s two goals, mine would have meant nothing”. I had a brief word with Derek, and asked him whether he got fed-up with such evenings? “No” he replied, “these things are important. And let me tell you – Evertonians never forget”.

The highlight of the evening followed Dave Prentice asking his wife Melanie, grand-daughter of William Ralph Dean, to present the Dixie Team Memorial Trophy for Sportsmanship and Respect. It went to John Hurst, who was correctly labelled “an impeccable role model of class and consistency”.

John said he was not such great player – he “couldn’t hack it in his first position up front, nor when he was moved back to midfield, but was then given the easiest job in football playing alongside Brian Labone, who did all the tackling and heading, leaving him just to pick up the loose ball and pass it to someone”. Over 400 games for Everton, bettered by only 16 players in the club’s history, suggest he had a bit more to his game than that. He was a tremendous centre back.

For me, seeing John brought back childhood memories. As a 9 year-old, watching him crash home a penalty off the underside of the crossbar to clinch the Youth Cup Final in 1965. As a 13 year-old, I was standing in the Scoreboard End at Old Trafford as he put a 20 yard screamer into the Stretford End. That wasn’t a bad start to the 69-70 Championship season, first two games both away, at Arsenal and Man Utd. Played 2, won 2, goals for 3, goals against 0, points 4, leading scorer John Hurst [2].

Talk inevitably moved on to Catterick’s second great team, that Title winning team of 69-70. Of how Catterick pinched Alan Ball from under the noses of Liverpool and Leeds Utd, despite Don Revie having had surreptitious meetings beforehand with Bally, readies in hand. And how Harry did the same when he signed Howard Kendall, when he was already pencilled in to Liverpool’s team the following Saturday. Ken referred to the debates that have taken place about who is Everton’s greatest ever manager, correctly saying that it’s purely a matter of conjecture and opinion, but that we should always remember that it was Harry Catterick who first brought Howard Kendall to Everton.

After the Southampton game a couple of weeks ago, I asked an old pal whether he fancied attending the event. He replied “I don’t think so, I don’t want to wallow in nostalgia”. That’s a perfectly valid view, one I understand. But I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, and it reinforced to me that it’s not simply nostalgia, it was a reminder of the standards to which our Club must aspire. I have seen it written that we are not a “big club”. Damn right we are, and it’s time we started to show it again.

Though I was peeved when Johnnie Carey was sacked I admired Harry Catterick.
Win lose or draw under Carey I would be left with the feeling that I had just witnessed what later became known as a 'beautiful game.'
With Harry it was more a joyless case of just getting the job done.
Speaking as a forever Blue I disagree with critcism of Bill Shankly.
If ever a manager had his finger on the pulse of what his players supporters and Fans wanted that person was Bill.

Hi Peter, what a lovely article - thanks for that. I agree with you about the nostalgia - its all many of us have given the paucity of the offerings of late but it does also remind me of what we should be doing now and to forget the past is to forgo what should be our future also in my view. I have Rob's book on Harry - it is a truly excellent read and again, nostalgia on my youth and I have dropped sufficient hints that I want the Gavin Buckland latest for the Christmas stocking. One thing that bears repeating is the modesty of players such as John Hurst - as you outline a very classy footballing defender, despite playing alongside a colossus for Everton it has to be said - John was a very fine player himself in a very fine team. I loved the bit about Mr John's response to the journalist. I wished I had been able to get over from the IOM for the event but work commitments precluded me.

Glad you enjoyed the evening Peter, I don’t think it is just nostalgia but part of Everton’s great history and for me it would have been lovely to listen to Derek Temple and John Hurst recall their part in it, especially with the nothing feigned but genuine modesty in the way they played. I’ve spoken to them, briefly in the past, and been surprised how they reacted to being recognised and of how how little they made of their career, especially Derek, with his, prompted, memory of the 1966 winner, although I doubted if he ever got fed up with being reminded of it.

On to John Moores, what a leader he was, with his eye on the ball and no time for failure, what he’d make of the present set up wouldn’t be hard to fantham.

It sounded like a great night Peter, thanks for your report on it, hope we witness some more great nights at Goodison in the near future, on the field, we certainly need them.

Dave Abrahams

Agreed.

I was born in 78 so can only go on trophies and rare footage.

But it has always bothered me that Revie et al get way more credit than Harry. I looked at the trophy hauls and league finishes of Busby, Shankly, Revie, Nicholson and Catterick recently. He was right up there, especially as he won two league titles so far apart.

He never gets a mention in the wider press. To put things in perspective, Revie won the same amount of trophies plus one League Cup yet we hear a heck of a lot more about him.

Shankly didn't win all that much more but, if you listened to RS and the media, you'd think he won the Double and European Cup on a regular basis.

Funny how propaganda overshadows facts...