Howard Kendall

Born in Ryton, Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice in 1961. He began playing professionally in May 1963 and played in the 1964 FA Cup Final against West Ham United. At the time, he was the youngest player to appear in a Wembley final, due to the regular left-half Ian Davidson being suspended by the club for an unauthorised trip to Scotland. He was aged 17 years 345 days and was the youngest finalist since James Prinsep played for Clapham Rovers in the 1879 final aged 17 years 245 days. Preston North End lost the final in the last minute. Originally a defender, Kendall was wanted by Bill Shankly at Liverpool. Liverpool failed to provide the funds, so he joined Everton for £85,000 in March 1967 where he was moved into midfield with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey. The trio gained the nickname "The Holy Trinity". They were a major component of the Everton team that reached the 1968 FA Cup Final, which they lost. They went on to win the First Division title in the 1969–70 season. In the 1970–71 season, Everton won the 1970 Charity Shield, with Kendall scoring the winning goal. During the next three seasons, Kendall captained Everton as the side struggled to build on winning the league, with a 17th-place finish in the 1972–73 season. He was sold to Birmingham City in February 1974 and he spent four seasons at St Andrew's helping Birmingham stay in the First Division and reach the FA Cup semi-final in 1975. Kendall joined Stoke City in August 1977 for a fee of £40,000.…

In the same vein as his midfield partner, Alan Ball, Kendall was a complete and combative midfielder who was a good passer of the ball, could tackle, defend and attack. Fellow Everton teammate Joe Royle described Kendall as a fair player and praised him for being in the right place at the right time.

In June 1979, Kendall was assigned as player-manager at Blackburn Rovers, helping them win promotion back up to the Second Division in the 1979–80 season and narrowly missing out on promotion to the top tier in 1981 on goal difference.

First spell at Everton

In May 1981, Kendall returned to Everton as player-manager, in the hopes of restoring the club to its former glory, although he only played four games before finally retiring as a player in December 1981. On his return to Goodison Park as manager, he made 7 signings, including goalkeeper Neville Southall from Bury – who would go on to spend 17 years at the club and play a major part in five major trophy successes. Over the next two seasons, he signed more players - including right winger Trevor Steven and midfielder Peter Reid. Everton finished 8th in Kendall's first season as manager and an improved 7th a year later, but began the 1983–84 season poorly, winning just 6 of their first 21 league games and standing on the brink of the relegation zone. Kendall was reportedly on the verge of being sacked, but the second half of the season was a very different story. Helped by the £250,000 signing of Wolves striker Andy Gray in November, Everton's league form improved. They once again finished 7th and reached the League Cup final (losing to Liverpool in a replay) and went on to win the FA Cup (beating Watford 2–0) at the end of the season. In the 1984–85 season, Everton won the league title, finishing 13 points…

As a player

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As a manager