FORMER Everton manager David Moyes led the tributes to Goodison Park legend Howard Kendall, who died yesterday. He was 69.
Kendall was three times Everton manager, but will be remembered for his first spell between 1981-87, the most successful in the club’s history, when they won two league titles (1984-5 and 1986-7), the FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup. He was also a star player at the club, being a member of the “Holy Trinity” midfield, along with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey, which helped Everton win the First Division in 1969-70.
Moyes said: “He was a great manager and in my time at Everton he was fully supportive of me. He was always ready to give advice when it was needed.”
He added: “Howard will go down in Everton’s history as the finest manager to have worked at the club.”
Kendall, who in 1964 became, at 17 years and 345 days, the youngest player to appear in a Wembley FA Cup final when his Preston side were beaten by West Ham United, also played for Birmingham, Stoke and Blackburn, and managed Blackburn, Manchester City, Notts County, Sheffield United and Athletic Bilbao.
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Moyes, who manages Bilbao’s Basque rivals Real Sociedad, said: “He’ll be missed in Spain as well. He was at Athletic Bilbao and they still talk about him here. I’m sure there’ll be people thinking about him here this weekend.”
The former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher, who grew up an Everton supporter, tweeted: “RIP Howard Kendall the greatest Everton manager there has been. He gave me some of my best football memories.”