Harry Catterick: The Untold Story of a Football Great

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At a time when The Beatles were ascending their heights, the city of Liverpool had become the darling of the press. Everyone wanted a slice of it, and with the emergence of TV coverage, suddenly music, comedians and two football teams caught the public imagination. I keep my eye on Everton; English football does not get a lot of attention here as you have to get up at midnight to watch. But some people do still remember me over here. The winger said: “I never gave a medal much more thought until I saw on the telly that if you play in England now and just play five games you get one. I thought, ‘I played a lot more than that.’ The arrival of Johnny Morrissey from across Stanley Park in September 1962 would limit Veall’s appearances but injury to Morrissey in the autumn resulted in an unbroken run of nine appearances.

The manager could then be assured that the youngsters have the benefit of the same of coaching his first team men are getting.” Veall’s contribution to Everton’s 1962/63 campaign was far greater than sitting on the bench 10 times.There was the godfather of Old Trafford, Matt Busby – the genial Scot whose own miraculous recovery spurred on the revival of his club’s fortunes following the Munich air disaster in 1958. With the likes of George Best, Denis Law and fellow crash survivor and future knight of the realm, Bobby Charlton, United not only won the league twice and the FA Cup, but became England’s first European Cup winners on an emotional night at Wembley in 1968. In this era “ club sources” – usually the manager – fed newspaper journalists with information, but there were no press conferences and the new media of TV, as yet, had no real interest in the game, so the relationship between club and newspaper coverage was on a personal basis. The rest is history, well enough documented to require little comment from me, but another great side swept all before them and garnered huge applause from football fans everywhere for their stylish league title win in 1969-70 – the “ School of Science” returned with interest. No doubt the people behind the latest stunt will get their laughs from the “lolz” generation and Spurs, with a hefty fine on the cards, will be accused of not getting the joke. No apologies, but despite all the good days he brought during his tenure and undoubted ability to build attractive, winning teams, I am still unable to forgive or forget the short sightedness of both his and the club’s attitudes.

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. This was a game in which I had introduced Joe Royle and (goalkeeper) Geoff Barnett to league football. My only regret was I was only two or three weeks out of hospital after a major operation and I was unable to do anything about it. Sadly a small group of hooligans are responsible for behaviour that is difficult to understand.” By the late 1960s, the vision of producing an entertaining team based on a fluid 4-3-3 formation was coming to fruition. No less than six players developed through the Club’s youth system were regulars in the starting 11. Sir Alex Ferguson was given 40 medals to distribute among his squad, and explained: “It’s changed now. They give you an allocated number of medals and it’s up to you to distribute them how you want. I think that’s fair because, in Darren Fletcher’s case for instance, it’s only illness which has prohibited him from getting a medal.

'I played with great players... I just wish it had lasted longer'

Spoiler alert – I was never his biggest fan, so this lot may seem overly negative towards someone who achieved so much. Former Everton player Dan Gosling has admitted an FA charge in relation to multiple breaches of Rule E8(b) for misconduct in relation to betting He certainly commanded the widespread respect of his fellow managers and Everton supporters. The Goodison hierarchy rewarded him with long contracts. A year earlier Manchester United duo Alex Buttner and Darren Fletcher were handed medals despite playing only three times. He showed little interest in interaction with the fans, they were an inconvenience and almost an irrelevance, but by way of contrast, he always promoted the team before himself. There are few photos if any of him celebrating trophies – the focus was on the players’ efforts not his.

He had five good seasons at Everton and two more at Crewe Alexandra before taking on the club’s managerial role. He then managed Rochdale and Sheffield Wednesday until in 1961 he took charge of Everton, leading to the club’s most successful decade: the Division One title in 1963 and 1970 and the FA Cup in 1966. The three who made it on to the grass at White Hart Lane might have suited curly wigs and red noses but – who said punk was dead? – instead they wore T-shirts advertising a company that sells headphones and boast about crazy previous escapades such as the night they sneaked into a leisure centre in Kent and filmed themselves swimming out of hours.

The Catt – as he was known by Evertonians – was too wise and pragmatic to rise to the bait and preferred his team to do his talking on the pitch; something they accomplished with terrific results.

He said: “The transfer chase has taken me all over Britain. I’ve dug my car out of snowdrifts, fixed up a deal at a midnight cabaret, hurried after one player while still in a dinner suit and hidden myself on the terraces of grounds throughout the League. Given Manchester United have just won a record 19th English league championship, the fact that they've had only three title-winning managers comes as quite a surprise. But while two of them are world-famous giants of the game, indelibly etched into the history books, United's other champion boss is a relatively peripheral figure these days. These fans pay good money to see good football and successful football – I am determined to see a successful team and that is why I have made this decision.” The ’66 FA Cup final was a classic, good enough to be remembered in the most celebrated year English football has ever known.The antagonistic clash of dispositions between rivals from the dugout is certainly not a new phenomenon, although the mischievous stoking of the coals by outside influences does seem to be of a greater prevalence these days. Buttner’s been great because he’s travelled to every away game with us. He’s been involved in every single training session, he’s played three times and been a substitute another 10 times, something like that. So I think that’s a contribution.” Some embraced the spotlight being shone upon them. I already eluded to Mr. Clough, whose national fame came later, but there were plenty of others who gladly stepped out of the shadows and into the glare of public life, and in return, the press were more than happy to indulge them. As a man with a record for success – one that stands up to those of Shankly, Busby, Revie or Nicholson – you would expect plenty of ex-players queuing up to gush about how great a man he was and how much affection they had for their time spent under him. Yet, that was rarely the case.