Search: ' Charles Buchan'
Stories
The untold story
of a football great
by Rob Sawyer
De Coubertin Books, £18.99
Reviewed by Simon Hart
From WSC 340 June 2015
It was 30 years ago in March that Harry Catterick died after suffering a heart attack at Everton’s FA Cup quarter-final against Ipswich Town. Five years earlier, Dixie Dean had also died at Goodison Park yet unlike the nationally famous striker, Catterick’s achievements – building two League title-winning teams – are today largely ignored beyond Merseyside.
Rob Sawyer has sought to redress the balance in a well-crafted biography that begins with a foreword from Colin Harvey, part of Catterick’s 1970 Championship side. “Don Revie, Bill Shankly, Bill Nicholson and Sir Matt Busby all get mentioned as being the great managers of the era while Harry doesn’t,” says Harvey of a man who won as many Leagues and FA Cups as Revie.
It is with Shankly, though, that Harvey makes the most telling comparison. For half of his 12-year reign, Catterick’s Everton drew the bigger crowds on Merseyside yet as Harvey recalls: “The press enjoyed being courted by Bill Shankly, but Harry was an introvert and snubbed them.” This is the crux of his image problem. Here was somebody who refused to allow the BBC cameras in to film Match of the Day until 1967 and had none of the charisma of his rival. Catterick was an aloof figure more akin to a modern-day director of football who – as his players would joke – put on a tracksuit only when the TV cameras or chairman John Moores appeared.
To achieve this insightful portrait, Sawyer pieced together interviews given by Catterick himself along with reminiscences of players and journalists and contemporary press cuttings. Alex Young recalls the coldness of a man not interested in courting popularity, saying: “I never got a pat on my head.” He had a devious side too, lying to the press and his own players; he told midfielder Brian Harris, for instance, that rumours of Tony Kay joining were false, only to swoop later that day for a player who had helped his Sheffield Wednesday side finish Division One runners-up in 1960-61.
Yet while his 1963 title-winners, built with the largesse of Littlewoods tycoon Moores, were dubbed “cheque-book champions”, the vision behind his youthful 1970 team would fit most current ideas of how to play the game. It was a 4-3-3 formation with the “holy trinity” of midfielders Howard Kendall, Harvey and Alan Ball at its heart. Dave Sexton, then Chelsea manager, applauded him for succeeding with a “set of small players up front” and Catterick’s own view was: “When it comes to the creation of something in tight corners, which midfield men have to do, give me the little ones.”
His players might have endured an old-fashioned factory-style clocking-in system but his planning of Everton’s Bellefield training ground – with an indoor pitch for small-sided matches – was another demonstration of foresight. Indeed in October 1970 Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly magazine dubbed the then 50-year-old “a manager for the Seventies”.
Sadly for Catterick – and his legacy – his Everton team soon fell apart. Sawyer recalls a pivotal week in March 1971 when they lost a European Cup quarter-final to Panathinaikos and FA Cup semi-final to Liverpool. After Ball left in controversial circumstances and Catterick himself suffered a heart attack, he was sacked in 1973. Not until 1985, two months after his death, would Everton win the League title again.
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General football sites
A Football Report Colourful insight on the game
A2Z Soccer Irish soccer news and fixtures
Better Football Coaching blog with technique, tactics, drills and games for grassroots coaches
Better Soccer Coaching Free soccer coaching tips and advice newsletter
Danger Here Humorous Irish football site
Early Bath Football soaps for fans of almost every team
Elcentrocampista A fresh perspective on the game in Spain
Elephants Online All the news and info on Ivory Coast
European Football Statistics Figures (including attendances) from across the continent
Flashscore Live scores and results from 500 leagues
Football books News and reviews
Football Crests Their history and meaning
Football Fans.eu Logging and sharing your match and stadium visits
Football Filter Only the best football sources
Football Management Commentary on the management of clubs by Dr John Beech
Footballness Trivia quizes every week
Football Pakistan Coverage and development of the game in Pakistan
Football Perspectives Analyses of issues surrounding the game on and off the pitch
Football Portugal Daily-updated review of the Portugese football scene
Football Programmes Lots of stuff for collectors
Football Squads Statsfeast for squad news junkies
Football Target News on all the big leagues
Goalkeepers are Different Interesting custodian-based fact site
Golazo Argentino Concentrating on Argentinian football
Groundtastic Everything you could possibly wish to know about football grounds
Hasta El Gol Siempre All about the game in Argentina
In Bed With Maradona The Home Of World Football
Inside Left Scottish football, not just the Old Firm
Junk Archive Liberate your loft and leave a legacy
La Celeste Blog The only English-speaking blog for the Uruguay national team
Les Rosbifs English players abroad, at every level
Must Read Soccer The day’s best soccer writing
Nigel’s Webspace Galleries of English Football Cards 1965/66 – 1979/80
90:00 Soccer Magazine The first magazine of its kind in the US
Nordic Football News The game in northern Europe
Old Football Games Almost 200 nostalgic football games
Peter Upton’s Subbuteo Tribute Website Nostalgia, news and comment
Pitch Invasion Football culture around the world
Played in Britain Retrospectives of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly and more
Roy of the Rovers Roy, Blackie, Tubbie, the other bloke – all your faves are here
Political Economy of Football Insights into matters of business
Soccerbase Comprehensive facts, figure, data and information about football
Soccerphile.com News and opinions
Sporting Life UK football news, betting info and live match updates
Sportingly better Predictions and fantasy football tips
Sports Books Direct Online sports book shop
Sports Pubs Useful little site with reviews of TV sports pubs in the London area
Statto.com A major internet resource for the football statistician and betting enthusiast
Subbuteo World The online home of table football
Terrace Bint Attempting to address some of the issues of girls and women who go to football
Twohundredpercent Daily insight, particulatly strong on the lower leagues
The Soccer Observer American soccer leagues and the US national teams
The Swiss Ramble Detailed breakdowns of football and finance
The Two Unfortunates The non-partisan blog for everything to do with the English second tier
Voetbalblog Dutch and international football news site
Welsh Football The independent voice of Welsh soccer
Clubs
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Annan Athletic Official Website
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Argentinos Juniors The Hand Of Dan
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Aston Villa Heroes & Villains, VillaTalk
Ayr Utd The Honest Men Trust
Barnet Barnet Mad, BFCSA
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Brechin City Official Website
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Brighton & Hove Albion North Stand Chat, The Plight of the Seagull
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Cardiff City Bob Bank Hero
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Chester City Deva Chat, Chester City
Chesterfield Official Forum, Chesterfield
Clyde Official Website
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Crystal Palace The Holmesdale Online, The BBS
Dagenham & Redbridge D&R Forum
Darlington Quakers Mad
Derby County The Rams
Djurgårdens Djurgårdens
Doncaster Rovers Viva Rovers, Unofficial Website
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Dundee Utd TheArabian.co.uk
Dunfermline Athletic Pars Fans
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Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolves Blog, Wolves Web Fan Club
Wrexham ONTTSS
Wycombe Wanderers Chairboys
Yeovil Town Ciderspace, The Green Room
Other stuff we like
Al Jazeera 24 hour news coverage from around the world
The Avengers Everything there is to know about the one of the best British TV series
Book Scans US pulp paperback covers of the 1950s and 60s
Classic Cafes A celebration of London’s vintage formica cafes
Framley Examiner The UK’s top local newspaper since 1978
Garageband Stick your song up and let the world review it
I Like Part of the industry of human happiness
Internet Movie Database Find that Anna Karina filmography
J-List All manner of products to be bought from Japan
Kennedy Assassination Home Page Lone nut or conspiracy?
London Review of Books The UK’s leading literary magazine
The Mausoleum Club Forums packed with information and opinion on classic TV
Naomi Klein Anti-capitalist books and articles
Nice Cup of Tea And A Sit Down Essential biscuit reviews
The Onion America’s finest news source
OTA Berlin Berlin blog and serviced apartments
Popbitch Who did what to whom
PopCult Mag Taking emphemera seriously
Red Meat Surreal cartoons drawn by monkeys
Republic The campaign for an elected head of state
Sexy Execs Meet the silver-foxes and their lovely lady friends who rule our corporate world
Smoke A small, peculiar, magazine about London life
The Straight Dope Essential information
Things Magazine An online journal about objects and meanings
Trash Fiction Reviews of paperbacks covering horror, sex, music, film and TV tie-ins, Sherlock Holmes pastiches and lots more
Trash Palace Your one-stop shop for genre films from around the world
TV Cream Resurrecting long-dead British TV classics
Advertisers
BetVictor offer the best odds on Premier League football and have a great range of markets, specials and offers
The Soccer Store Authorised seller of Samba Football Goals
Trevor Brooking is an unlikely evangelical but, as Barney Ronay reports, the mild-mannered one has come down off his fence with a vengeance in a bid to improve the basic football skills of children
“When it comes to skill levels, we are lagging behind the other major European countries… Unless this culture is changed, we will continue to slip behind.” So said Trevor Brooking last month, in one of his frequent and always deeply pessimistic dispatches from Soho Square. In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t the same cheery old sit-on-the-fence Trevor you might have become used to from his “to be fair the ball took a bit of a bobble” appearances on Match of the Day. Two years in charge of the FA’s youth programme have taken their toll, transforming Brooking, the director of football development, into the game’s Cassandra, repeatedly mongering the imminent doom of our national sport.
Will Everton be on the move soon – leaving the city of Liverpool? Gavin Willacy examines the history of clubs looking for new homes and concludes that the Blues have little choice but to head for Kirkby
If national media coverage is any barometer, there was surprisingly little uproar when Everton announced that they are considering a move out of Liverpool into neighbouring Kirkby. A few shareholder-fans objected at the AGM, concerned that the city would turn red in their absence, but otherwise the supporters seemed resigned to the inevitable. Once the King’s Dock project fell through in 2002, Everton had to come up with an alternative. With ground-sharing Liverpool’s Dubai-funded ground in Stanley Park seemingly out of the question and the chances of two new stadiums being built in the city unlikely, someone would have to move out.