The term ‘legend’ is openly thrown around with remarkable ease nowadays, but few at Everton have ever deserved it more than the late great Howard Kendall.
Having spent three stints with the Toffees, his first the far more successful, he led this club to true greatness and the pinnacle of European football.
This culminated in their 1984-85 campaign, where they were just one win in the FA Cup final away from completing the first treble in English football history.
He is a legend in every sense of the word, having featured heavily for Everton as a player and returning later as a manager. This was a club that he just could not shake, and in turn, the reciprocal love they shared was remarkable. Sean Dyche would likely be happy if he enjoyed half as successful a spell as Kendall did.
However, on the 17th of October 2015, news emerged that left Merseyside in a state of instant mourning. Howard Kendall had sadly passed away.
Now, nine years on, we celebrate what would have been his 78th birthday with a string of the best quotes from and about the master tactician who helped forge one of the greatest Everton teams in their long and storied history.
Peter Reid pays tribute to Howard Kendall
The first came just after his death, as Peter Reid sought to pay tribute to his former manager.
The 67-year-old was one of Kendall’s most important signings at Everton, and was part of a revolutionary influx of players who helped transform the club from relegation strugglers to league champions.
He joined alongside Trevor Stevens and Neville Southall, to name a few from that period, and was ever-present for seven great years.
Unsurprisingly, he owed plenty to Kendall, and that would become abundantly clear in his emotional summation of his career, given to the BBC: ‘Howard Kendall’s legacy is that he is the most successful Everton manager in the history of a massive, massive football club.’
Howard Kendall replies to Brian Clough
Brian Clough is regarded by many as the greatest English manager of all time, having taken two East Midlands clubs, Nottingham Forest and Derby County, to the first league title in their respective histories.
However, when the former played Everton during that aforementioned league-winning campaign in the mid-80s, a 5-0 thrashing left Clough red-faced.
He would frustratingly brand Kendall ‘a young pup’ after the match, and when asked if he wanted to respond, the Toffees boss gave a cheeky reply that typified his personality: ‘I can’t – I’m a hush puppy!’
Gary Lineker recalls signing for Everton under Howard Kendall
Another who spoke to the BBC after Kendall’s passing was Gary Lineker, with the star striker only spending one illustrious year under his managership.
However, what a year it was, with the 63-year-old firing in 38 goals before swiftly departing for Barcelona.
He recalled when he first signed for Everton: ‘Howard signed me from Leicester, and we had to go to an arbitration hearing to determine the price of the transfer. I remember him giving evidence saying they were taking a bit of a punt on me, that I wasn’t going to play, while Leicester were saying the opposite.
‘In the end I think the fee decided was a bit higher than Everton had said they wanted to pay, and I remember sitting there thinking I’m signing for this fella? This is the end of the world!
‘Of course as soon as we got out he put his arm round me and said of course you’re going to be playing every week, and he popped into a supermarket and came out with three bottles of wine. We drunk them on the train back to Liverpool.
‘He deserves legendary status at Everton, that’s certain. For his achievements, his likeability, his personality and his charisma. He was a wonderful leader.’
Howard Kendall’s pride at managing Everton
In a similar fashion to Reid’s earlier quote, Kendall expressed his own pride in his accomplishments at Everton.
He once claimed: ‘I have the honour of being the most successful manager in the history of Everton Football Club, one of the greatest and the biggest clubs in the world.’
The importance of achieving these feats at Goodison Park was never lost on the great manager.
Sir Alex Ferguson once feared Howard Kendall’s Everton
Whilst many suggest the early success of Sir Alex Ferguson was in knocking Liverpool off their perch, the Scotsman himself has a very different retelling of events.
In fact, whilst speaking to The Daily Mail, he revealed how Kendall’s Everton were the real superpower that he had to first topple.
He noted: ‘(That Everton) side that was undoubtedly one of the strongest in Europe during the mid-1980s when Howard (Kendall) had them playing some brilliant football.
‘When people talk about the job that I took on at United in 1986, one of the first things that is often highlighted is the challenge we had to overhaul Liverpool but I have always thought that was disrespectful to Everton, who won the championship for the second time in three years in my first season in charge.
‘Howard’s decision to leave at the end of that campaign probably stopped Everton in their tracks a little bit but when I first went to United there was no question that they were a top side, and I knew full well that getting the better of them was going to be a big job in itself.’
Howard Kendall outlines the difference between Manchester City and Everton
With the legendary status he commands on Merseyside, it is odd to think that Kendall actually managed seven other clubs.
One of those, Manchester City, was not his most glittering spell in management, but remained highlighted by the FA’s constant attempts to get him to become the England boss.
Whilst he turned them away on every occasion, he would later admit that whilst he enjoyed his spell at Maine Road, it paled in comparison to Everton.
Kendall claimed: ‘With Manchester City, it was a love affair, but with Everton it was more like a marriage.’
Howard Kendall’s most famous Goodison Park quote
Of all the quotes that the great Kendall uttered, this was arguably the greatest.
After all, it was infamously uttered at half-time of one of the club’s best-ever moments, just as it threatened to be one of their most crushing.
Having been beaten 1-0 in Germany, Bayern Munich extended their lead with the only goal of the first half at Goodison Park. It saw them certain to progress into the final of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup at Everton’s expense.
But it was this adversity which provoked one of the most important lines in Goodison Park history: ‘Get the ball into the box, and the Gwladys Street will suck the ball into the net.’
The gaffer was not wrong. Second-half goals from Graeme Sharp, Andy Gray and Trevor Stevens completed the comeback and saw them storm into the final, which they won.
A legendary final quote for a legendary man. RIP Howard Kendall, and a happy heavenly birthday.