A new book, written by Nathan O’Hagan, looks into the complex task for the man who succeeded Everton’s most successful manager from the heady days of the 1980s.
Colin Harvey was Howard Kendall’s assistant manager, and he naturally assumed the role of manager when Kendall at his peak left for a position at Athletic Bilbao in June 1987.
The next 3 years are the subject of this revealing book: Succession: Colin Harvey and His Time as Everton Manager. by Nathan O’Hagan, published by Pitch, price £19.99. Harvey’s trials and tribulations in the Goodison hotseat are vividly recalled by author and Everton nut O’Hagan, who scrutinises a rarely examined period of the club’s history.
It should have worked, given Harvey’s respect from Everton players, but he presided over an era when the club slipped from title contenders into top-flight also-rans. He was on a hiding to nothing from the start, according to author Nathan O’Hagan. He always appeared uncomfortable with the increasingly important public relations side of the job and proved mostly unsuccessful in the transfer market.
Despite spending his whole life in football, these were aspects of the industry he had never before dealt with. Harvey was probably the right man at the wrong time. As if replacing Kendall wasn’t going to be difficult enough, he faced the monumental task of evolving Kendall’s team at a time when top home players fled the country in droves because of the grossly unfair 5-year European ban on all English clubs following the disgraceful catastrophe Liverpool fans had perpetrated at Heysel Stadium, where their shameful actions had led to the deaths of 39 Juventus fans.
Kendall’s ageing Everton team broke apart in the ensuing years and Harvey was unable to sustain the glory years that Evertonians would have to relive in their memories as no other manager has been able to emulate anything like what Howard Kendall achieved over 40 years ago.