What might have been was very close to happening in June 1973. Sir John Moores, the pools millionaire and Everton owner, knew Harry Catterick was in poor health, and Moores wanted continued success for Everton.
A contract was written up ready for the Leeds Utd manager to sign before they went went to Greece for the Cup Winners’ Cup final against AC Milan. The two had met in the south of France the previous weekend at Moores’s villa. It appears a contract had been agreed, but it was never signed.
It included an annual salary of £15,500 (the equivalent of £240,000 today) and a 7-year deal from 1 June 1973. There was the potential to earn as much again in bonuses, and a car “appropriate to his position” would be provided — as well as a club-bought house within 25 miles of Goodison Park.
The house would be worth between £20,000 and £40,000 and there would be an option to buy at the club’s purchase price or rent at £6 per week. Next day Moores was greeted by the press about Revie turning down Everton, and Revie stating he never would leave Leeds, but the contract was full of what Revie insisted on to become Everton manager.
Personally, I am glad Revie never became our manager, surely the most disliked manager and set of players during the 60s and 70s. A statue to Revie outside Goodison Park? No thanks… considering he walked out on Leeds for England… and then walked out on England for the Arabs.
There was the rumour Alan Ball met Revie in a motorway cafe for Ball to sign for Leeds instead of Everton in 1966. Revie apparently gave Ball a brown envelope with a large amount of cash in it. They shook hands… and Ball signed for Everton the next day.
Listen to Unsigned: When Don Revie Turned Down Everton, on BBC Sounds. The remarkable story surrounding an unsigned contract that sat in a filing cabinet in a Wirral Bungalow for 52 years.