Colin Harvey: Every time I put on the Everton shirt was a proud occasion but if I had to pick it would be 3 occasions that stick in the memory.

There was my debut at the San Siro. Scoring in the semi final in the 1966 cup final against Man Utd. Then scoring against West Brom in the game that clinched up the championship. Because I didn’t score many goals, it was always a special occasion when I did score! Can you think of anything better than scoring for Everton as an Evertonian!

Blue Kipper: You have talked about San Siro debut being a great occasion, when did you know you were playing?

Colin Harvey: It was on the afternoon of the game. We had lunch and then we had a team meeting. Harry Catterick said there would be only one change. He said “Denis Stevens – you move to number 4 and Colin Harvey goes to number 8” This was all because Gabby was injured at the time. It was as simple as that! I just gasped, I didn’t have a clue that I was going to play – it was a great way of doing it, he didn’t give me a chance to think about it, I just had to go out there and play! I thought no-one was going to expect too much of me, I just went out there and done my best and I did okay.

Blue Kipper: The Italians had a few rough players, one was named Horst Syzmaniak playing for them that day. How did the Italians go about stopping the Everton team?

Colin Harvey: Yes I remember him, they could only play 3 foreigners at that time and he was brought in just to play the European games as a stopper. It was a real tough game, a very very big step up for me. When you consider that I played for the reserves against Sheffield Utd on the Saturday and then against the Italians on the Wednesday – it was pretty amazing. The pace was really frantic but all considering, I really enjoyed it and I played reasonably well. But it was back to the reserves the following Saturday!!

Blue Kipper: Who, of your peers, did you think was the most exciting player to have played with?

Colin Harvey: Without question it was Alan Ball. I played against Alan quite often when he was at Blackpool with the C, B and A teams and the reserves. When he finally came to Everton, he was probably the best player in the country, and was probably the best player that ever played for Everton.

Blue Kipper: During your playing career with Everton who is the best goalkeeper you have played with or against?

Colin Harvey: Well there is no other than Gordon West – he was a bit eccentric, he was certainly off the wall but what a fantastic goalkeeper he was. As an all time Everton goalie, there was only Neville who bettered him. He probably won’t be happy with me saying that, and he will certainly have a word with me when he sees me next, but Gordon was an exceptional goalie.

Blue Kipper: Colin was my favourite player of the 60's/ early 70's. I first saw him at White Hart Lane in December 1964. That day he first played his first 1st team game at wing-half. had he played at wing-half before that game?

Colin Harvey: I did actually prefer wing half, I played in that position at junior levels. A wing half was a little bit different than an inside forward, it was more of a defensive role. I had to mark Jimmy Greaves that day because that’s what Harry Catterick told me to do, but Jimmy still scored that day! I had a pretty good stamina and could get from box to box, but I did prefer the more defensive role. I did seem to get more involved in that position. Joe Royle always reminded me that once I got into the box I got a nose bleed! So I was the one who played that holding role.

Blue Kipper: Whose idea was it for John Hurst to wear No. 10 while playing centre-back with Howard Kendall wearing 4 and Colin No. 6 ? Was it Harry Catterick's or one of the players ?

Colin Harvey: It was my idea to wear the no. 6, it was always the number I wanted to wear. If you wore the no. 10 everyone seemed to think that you were the attacking mid field player. I had to go in and ask Catterick if I could wear the no. 6 and I can tell you I was shitting myself when I went in! He was great, he said that if that’s what I wanted, I could go ahead and wear it. It was a psychological thing really, it just meant that I didn’t have the extra responsibility of scoring goals, which as you know, I wasn’t very good at! John Hurst was alright about it, so long as he was playing, it didn’t bother him. Even Liverpool copied us by Tommy Smith wearing the no. 10 for some time.

Blue Kipper: In April 1968, you wore No. 3 away to Sheffield United. Did you actually play left-back at that game ?

Colin Harvey: I never ever played left back, I really can’t remember. It may have been when I have come back from injury and someone was playing well with the no. 6, so maybe I just got thrown the no. 3 shirt. I will check it out!

Blue Kipper: I'm sure I saw him score a goal in about '68 or '69 at the Street End against (I think) QPR. He dribbled 2 defenders, lobbed a third and then, just inside the box, instead of his usual Row Z or corner flag finish, he just placed it perfectly in the bottom corner for the most fantastic goal. Does Colin remember this? Did he ever score a better goal? Did anyone?

Colin Harvey: I think I remember the goal you’re talking about, but I think it was against West Brom. I can’t argue against the row Z thing, because I wasn’t a goal scorer, but it was a proud moment and I do remember the goal. It was a good finish, which was unusual for me. I don’t know what it was about me and goal scoring, I probably got more and more conscious about it because I didn’t score many goals.

Blue Kipper: Colin - you were the least prolific scorer of the Holy Trinity but you scored some very important goals for the Blues along the way. Which was your favourite, the semi final winner against Man U in 1966 or the title clincher v West Brom in 1970? Or do you have a different favourite?

Colin Harvey: It’s probably the semi final goal because it was near the end of the game and it was the goal that got us to the final. The other one was a better goal, but it was the 2nd goal, because Alan Whittle had scored the first, and we were always going to beat West Brom anyway. We battered them that night. But the Man Utd goal was really the one that got us to the cup final and that’s always something special and that will always be a proud moment of mine.

Blue Kipper: A game at Goodison saw us beaten by Blackburn 4-2 (Fred Pickering hat –trick) . I remember the team, but especially you getting some stick from the crowd. How did you cope with this? Did you ever think football wasn’t for you during the early days.

Colin Harvey: Yes, when I got into the side, I got a fair bit of stick. When you think that at that time I was coming in and sometimes wearing Roy Vernon’s shirt, it was difficult replacing him because Roy was one of the Gods! Sometimes I wore no. 8 shirt in place of Alec Young, so to replace these players was always going to be hard. Obviously, if you didn’t play particularly well, you got some stick. Sometimes I didn’t play well and I got some stick, it was just a fact of life and you had to get on with it. Harry Catterick was brilliant at that time, he would tell the papers that I’d had a great game, even though I hadn’t. It was just his way of sticking up for me. It started to turn for me when I played in the Fairs Cup against Kilmarnock and I managed to get a goal, it seemed to go better and better after that. But getting stick wasn’t good when it seemed like 60,000 people were giving you a hard time, but you just stick at it and you come through.

Blue Kipper: Did you think at that time that because you were a local lad that you got more stick than the others?

Colin Harvey: Yes, possibly because at that time, Everton were the millionaire club and they were buying the best players available. Quite a few of the local lads came through and became quite successful, such as John Hurst, Tommy Wright and myself, and also the likes of Jimmy Husband and Alan Whittle had to come through the ranks. It was all a part of growing up, getting a bit of stick from the crowd shows your character if you come through it.

Blue Kipper: The White Pele. How did you feel getting this nickname?

Colin Harvey: It was when I made my debut for Sheffield Wednesday at Bolton. My dad had brought me back and I got a few phone calls asking how the game had gone, and someone told me that there was a banner at the Park End at Goodison saying something about me and the white Pele – it was a very proud moment for me! For someone to say that about you comparing you to probably the best player that ever played the game is really unbelievable. To think that people thought that much of me was hard to believe.

Blue Kipper: It was a major surprise when we sold Alan Ball to the Arsenal. What were his thoughts on hearing the news?

Colin Harvey: I was Bally’s biggest fan – at that time he was probably the best player in Britain. But Bally at that time was not playing his best football, and I certainly don’t know why Mr. Catterick made the decision to sell him. He obviously had his own reasons, but I don’t know them. But it was still a great surprise and Bally went on to prove what a great player he was at Arsenal. I can’t say anything against Harry Catterick, in my eyes, he didn’t get the credit he deserved. They talk about Shankley, Nicholson and Revie, but he never seems to get a mention, but his record was absolutely fantastic. He didn’t spend much time on the training field, it wasn’t his style, but in the dressing room and everything else, he was top class. He always seemed to put his finger on what was wrong, and he was spot on.

Blue Kipper: Who taught you to run so stylishly i.e. with your thumbs stuck out?

Colin Harvey: I really don’t know – when you look at it now, it really looks daft doesn’t it! I think it was just the way I ran at the time. I don’t like watching videos of myself. I think it was just concentration, I just did it automatically, I don’t know why! It’s only when you look at a video of yourself and you say “oh shit, is that me!!” I certainly wasn’t aware that I was doing it at the time.

Blue Kipper: Old kits were not fashionable as they were all very similar where did the tie ups showing and just a bit of shirt out the shorts come from?

Colin Harvey: I suppose I was just copying one of my heroes actually, maybe it was Roy Vernon or Bobby Collins at the time.

Blue Kipper: Did you and Bally have a sideburns competition?

Colin Harvey: No, it was just the style at the time, we all seemed to have big sidees! I didn’t shave during pre-season and sometimes we could have 6-7 days growth, it’s certainly not like today where they come in with their shaving stuff. The only time we went out was a Saturday night and that was the only time we shaved, the rest of the time we didn’t bother. The only thing on our minds at that time was how fit we could get, we didn’t think about how our hair looked etc.

Blue Kipper: Your one and only England cap must have been a huge honour but also a huge disappointment not to build upon this. Why do you think this was? Clearly not through lack of talent.

Colin Harvey: To be fair, Alf Ramsey (to give him his due) at the time was building a club side and he stuck with his players. I got in the squad in 1969 to go to South America before the 1970 world cup. I was probably playing the best football of my career at that time. I thought I had a really good chance of getting in the world cup squad, but round about Christmas time I had a serious eye problem and that set me back about 3 months because the injury prevented me from running, jogging or any sudden movement at all. I didn’t miss many games because there were a lot of call offs at that time, but I did lose the level of fitness and by the time the end of the season came when we won the championship, I could have gone on for another couple of months, because I was getting fit again. Because of that, I missed out going to the world cup.

Blue Kipper: Who was the player that you were in competition with at that time?

Colin Harvey: Well you had the likes of Peter Storey, Alan Mullery, Nobby Styles and Colin Bell. All top class players and once you were established in Alf’s team, it was hard to get in.

Blue Kipper: Also is it true that Alan Ball used to tell opposing players that their wives were dogs and every time they received the ball he would bark?

Colin Harvey: No, no – I never heard anything like that! He was the most confident player that I had ever seen. While playing with him, there were times were he would sit on the ball, point to his wrist and ask the crowd what time it was! He was a great believer in his own ability, he was cocky off the field, but he wasn’t a ‘big-head’ he was just a great player, he was a ball of fire.

Blue Kipper: Do you see any players around today who remind you of yourself and your ability?

Colin Harvey: Yes, it’s a difficult question, but the player I like at the moment is Paul Scholes. He is my favourite player at the moment. I can see a lot of his moves, especially when he hits the ball with the outside of his foot. It was something that I always tried to do. It’s great when you’re looking one way and are able to kick the ball in the other direction. His goal scoring ability is something special as well, and that’s definitely something that we don’t have in common! I just wish I’d had his ability of scoring goals.

Blue Kipper: In today’s market what would the Holy Trinity be worth ?

Colin Harvey: You just can’t answer that, but Bally alone would cost the earth! You just can’t put a price on it. People didn’t realise what a great player he was, the same as Howard. Howard was a great player as well, it would be interesting to know, but you can’t go back 20/30 years.

Blue Kipper: What were the reasons behind you leaving for Sheffield Wednesday? At the time did you think that you would ever come back to Everton?

Colin Harvey: Coming back – never. I didn’t think I’d come back in any capacity. I cried when I went out of the gate, I’ll be honest with you – I thought it was the end. I thought the next time I come back it would be to watch a game. Billy Bingham was manager at the time, and I just didn’t seem to fit in with his plans. I was having trouble with my hip and the 2 seasons before I left I was missing training sessions and a few games. I didn’t know what it was at the time, and I can see the way Roy Keane walks now, that he’s having the same trouble as I had, but the medical side of the game is so advanced now. Because I wasn’t training as hard my form had dipped and Billy Bingham had just bought Martin Dobson who was a good player and I wasn’t getting a game. I don’t care what you say, if you’re a footballer, all you want to do is play football on a Saturday afternoon. That was the combination of things, and I just made a quick decision to move. The hip caused great difficulty over the next 2 years at Sheffield Wednesday, I used to train on a Friday, play on a Saturday then rest until the following Friday and Saturday. It became obvious at that time to call it a day from playing.

Blue Kipper: Who is the most improved player you've coached from day one to him making the 1st team?

Colin Harvey: It’s difficult to say you see, I’m a great believer in when a player walks in the place, they’re going to be players if they’re good enough. I don’t think you can coach people to be good players, they’ve got from the day they were born – they can blame their Mums and Dads! But I am a believer in instilling a work ethic and you can develop players and show them the organisation side of the game. It doesn’t matter what I do, if a player can play he can play!

Blue Kipper: We know your views on Wayne Rooney, which of the new crop of young players coming through has impressed you most?

Colin Harvey: Ozzie (Leon Osman) is certainly a player that’s got a chance, he’s got great ability but he’s been held back the past couple of years with some serious injuries. It was great to see him pushing for a first team place at the end of last season. I hope he makes it, he’s a great kid.

Blue Kipper: Is Wayne that good?

Colin Harvey: Yes, he is unbelievable, I have seen him since he was about 11 and I put him in the under-19s when he was 14 and he was definitely the best player on the pitch. He is so strong, he can be anything he wants to be.

Blue Kipper: You have coached so many up and coming players in your time. Are there any players that should have made but didn’t and why?

Colin Harvey: If they haven’t made it, it’s down to them. If you come to a football club like Everton, you’ve got the best chance in the world to make it, and if you’ve got the ability and you don’t make the most of that, it’s down to you and nobody else. We can help along the way, but at the end of the day it’s up to the individuals to do it for themselves.

Blue Kipper: It was well known that Gary Lineker didn’t train much. Did anybody else during the mid-80’s have problems with your coaching sessions?

Colin Harvey: No I don’t think so. Gary always seemed to have a little injury that stopped him from training, but to be honest with you, he wasn’t the best footballer that I had ever seen. Put him on a pitch and if he got a chance he normally put it in. His record speaks for itself, not only Everton, but everywhere he went, he was a phenomenal goal scorer.

Blue Kipper: Howard Kendall pulled off a master-stroke by asking you to be his right hand man. What did you bring to the team that dominated the mid 80’s. Were you the bad cop and HK the good cop to get the best out of the players?

Colin Harvey: (Laughing) No, we didn’t work that way, we worked really well as a team. Howard’s strength was that he was very shrewd in judging a player I brought to him. I was very passionate when it came to the training side of things, and was very passionate about video work as well. It was Howard who pulled it all together. It was certainly a great time to be at the club and for everyone connected with the club. The only disappointing time during that period was that we didn’t get to go into Europe with that team. It would have been interesting to see how we would have done.

Blue Kipper: When Howard Kendall left for sunny climates, did you think you were the one to step into the hot seat?

Colin Harvey: Well the year before, Howard had had an offer from Barcelona and he thought seriously about it, and he asked me if I fancied going with him. In all honesty, I didn’t want to go – it was all hypothetical and nothing ever came from it, but I just didn’t fancy going. The following year, he had the offer from Bilbao and because of the European ban, which really upset him, he thought it was the time to go. He did ask if I wanted to go with him, but again, I decided to stay put. I was asked to take over, it wasn’t the ideal situation, but to keep the continuity and keep it going, I accepted the job.

Blue Kipper: As manager, you bought players like Keown and McCall, who had long and successful careers, and a few others, who didn't. Who was the best player you bought? Who would you most like to have brought to Goodison?

Colin Harvey: Well I think you’ve mentioned him, Keown turned out to be a great player. He’s made a fantastic career. He was a strange lad in lots of ways, but get him on the field, he would do the business for you. Stuart was a good all-rounder as well. As for Neil McDonald, he certainly had ability, but for some reason he just didn’t produce it as well as he should have done on the field. Neil was absolutely brilliant in training, he could use his left or his right foot, but he was as disappointed as anyone that it didn’t turn out for him at Everton. Paddy Nevin was another one who had great skill and was something else, but he probably needed stronger players around him. All in all I didn’t get the blend quite right.

Blue Kipper: Was there anyone you tried to bring in that could have made your era as manager a more successful one?

Colin Harvey: Probably the most famous one I didn’t get, and he would have been great for us, was Mark Hughes. At the time he was at Barcelona but he was on a loan period at Bayern Munich. Anyway, Jim Greenwood and myself went to see the Bilbao play on the Sunday and we stayed overnight with Howard (and survived to tell the tale!). On Monday we flew to see the Barcelona officials but unfortunately, Mark was doing really well at Bayern Munich at the time and they were hoping to sell him to them.

Blue Kipper: If you had your time as manager again, what would you do different from the first time?

Colin Harvey: That’s very difficult to answer, being manager at Everton was probably the most frustrating time of my career. Every other period during my Everton career we had always won things, I’ve always been involved with winning teams. I wasn’t then – even though we finished 4th, 8th, 6th and we got to the final of the F.A. Cup , the final of the Simod Cup, the semi final of the Worthington Cup. I really didn’t enjoy being manager, I must be honest. I have got to consider that time as a failure due to the simple fact that we didn’t win anything.

Blue Kipper: Do you think certain players let you down when you were manager?

Colin Harvey: No, certainly not. I’m a believer that your fate is in your own hands. If players don’t play as well as they should do, or they don’t turn out as you thought they were going to, that’s your fault isn’t it? I’m a great believer in that you are responsible for everything that you did yourself so if we didn’t win anything, I was the only one to blame.

Blue Kipper: Some people believe that your period as manager was a failure, others argue that it wasn’t. Everton have had plenty of failures over the last years. Why was Mike Walker such a disaster?

Colin Harvey: I honestly don’t know and can’t answer anything to do with Mike Walker’s period. But I certainly do consider my time as a manager a failure. Don’t forget, we came off the back of a great team during the mid-80s and we lost a couple of really good players. I didn’t capitalize on that period, and I didn’t turn it round – I just didn’t do it – and again, if you don’t win anything, you’ve failed.

Blue Kipper: We had a good start to the 88/89 season and we thought Tony Cottee was going to be an all-time legend, why did it not work out that way?

Colin Harvey: His record for the club was fantastic, he scored over 100 goals. It always comes down to the fact that while he was with us, we never won anything. If we had won something, he would have stayed. I certainly won’t have a go at Tony, because I thought he was a really good player – I must have done, I paid £2 million for him! At the time it was very close whether he was going to sign for Everton or Arsenal, but it was great when we got him because when you get someone like that, you know you’re going to get goals! It certainly wasn’t Tony’s fault, we just didn’t get the right players around him to win anything.

Blue Kipper: It appeared that you didn't fancy Kevin Sheedy as a player, why?

Colin Harvey: No – not at all. I thought that Kevin was a really great player, he scored great goals. He provided great crosses with his left foot. I’ve heard this a few times from people but at the end of the day, you try not to be mates with the players because you’ve got a job to do, and you can’t afford to get too close to them. But I certainly appreciated everything that he did for the club.

Blue Kipper: BK: Did the arrival of Pat Nevin always mean that Tricky Trev would be leaving even though he was amongst the best we had at the time?

Colin Harvey: No, not necessarily. I just thought it was a great opportunity to get Pat when he became available. Don’t forget, Trevor could play on the left, the middle and even on occasions could play upfront. It certainly wasn’t the case of wanting to get rid of Trevor because he was a fantastic player and one of the top 20 Everton players of all time – he really was that good. But once again, because of the European ban, he decided to go to Rangers to play in Europe.

Blue Kipper: You seemed happier to be a No. 2 rather than the main man. Any reasons for this?

Colin Harvey: No, the only reason I wasn’t happy was because we didn’t win anything.

Blue Kipper: After giving Graeme Sharp a hard time in training sessions during his early days what was it like to be his no 2?

Colin Harvey: I never gave him a hard time as such, for me he was such a good player. I was very passionate about the training. The training sessions were hard. Once they were over, things were forgotten about. He was great at Oldham, I have always liked Graeme and we got on really well. I liked him from the day he walked in the place as a kid at Everton. I never had any problems with him, he was great to work for. I had a lot of time for him as a player, and I suppose sometimes you’re harder on the ones you like!

Colin Today @ The Interview

Colin Harvey: The one that sticks out is the 4 nil win at Anfield against Liverpool. I scored at that game and you couldn’t have got a better feeling. We had a few reserves out that day, but we really battered them and to score was just brilliant! The rivalry was fiercer then than it is now, especially when they had Tommy Smith and Ron Yeats in their team. It’s great to beat them at any time, but that day we weren’t expected to win at all so that game must rank very highly in my memories.

Blue Kipper: In the past, we've had two great managers - Catterick and Kendall and now we might have a third. You have worked with all of them - how do you rate them?

Colin Harvey: Well we’ve spoke about Catterick before and he definitely didn’t get the credit he deserved. He was there for about 12 years, he built 3 or 4 teams and went on to win championships and cups – he was a great manager. He was a little bit different, he wasn’t a tracksuit man at all, but he knew the game inside out. He always knew what the problem was and sorted us out a half time. You already know my feelings about Howard, he pulled things together and really was special.

As for David Moyes, his achievements over the last year have been fantastic. He is very enthusiastic and very thorough, he’s done a great job so far. I just hope he can carry it on – he needs to be judged over a longer period of time. I just hope he gets some money to add players to the squad he’s got now.

Blue Kipper: With the announcement of your retirement – is this going to be a complete severing of ties?

Colin Harvey: Maybe, you just never know. I’ve had 3 hip operations, the first one I had done over 20 years ago and I have never had a problem with it since. The other one was done 15 years ago and was never quite right, I had it re-done about 2 years ago. It’s good enough for me to walk and drive, but not for what I want to do with my coaching. Over the last couple of years it’s been getting more and more frustrating and I haven’t been able to do my job as well as I should do. So it was the right time to call it a day on the coaching side.

Blue Kipper: Do you think you have a role to play at Everton in the future?

Colin Harvey: I don’t honestly know, I’m just going to leave it for a while and see how it settles down, and obviously just take it from there.

Blue Kipper: Your testimonial game against Palma is coming up on Sunday 10th August, I suppose that is going to be something special for you?

Colin Harvey: Yes I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a pre-season friendly with half the proceeds going to Blueblood, the former Everton Players’ Foundation, which is a brilliant idea. I know recently Tommy Wright has just had a knee operation and I know of loads of others who have had great benefits from this charity. It was just a great honour to be asked and a great chance to see everybody again. It’s a chance to get to Goodison again as I never said my proper goodbyes when I left.

Blue Kipper: How would you most like to be thought of/remembered by Evertonians?

Colin Harvey: To have played for Everton and being an Evertonian myself; and all my family being Evertonians, it would be nice for them to remember me as a good player.

Blue Kipper says:

Well Colin, you were more than just a good player, you were one of the all time greats at Everton – never to be forgotten. You are truly an Everton living legend. (02/07/03)