Harry Catterick: The Untold Story of a Football Great

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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.” Others might point to Don Revie, forgetting that Leeds United only won promotion in 1964, while those old enough to remember that era clearly would highlight Bill Nicholson.

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.This was, after all, the era of Norman ‘Bites-yer-Legs’ Hunter, Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris and Tommy Smith, the Anfield Iron. 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. As a result 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. However, he was right up there among them and created three different trophy winning sides.”

Ball, Kendall and Harvey may have grabbed the headlines, but the manager had crafted a well-balanced side, considered by football purists to be one of the finest seen on English soil. As mentioned earlier, the sixties were a golden age for football in England – not only did the national side win its own World Cup in 1966 but the domestic game thrived on the competition that raged in the League; eight different clubs were crowned champions between 1960 and 1970 with none able to win the title in consecutive years. Out of that jostling for supremacy, several iconic managers emerged. Watson nearly led Liverpool to the Double in 1899, but the team lost an FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United, then spectacularly bottled the league: needing only a draw at Aston Villa to secure the title, they conceded five goals in the first half. Villa won the championship instead. But Liverpool didn't have to wait too long for their first title, which came two seasons later, thanks in no small part to an end-of-season run that saw them let in only two goals in their last 10 games. A week on, it is still difficult to think of anything more depressing in a Premier League game this season than the scene that unfurled when Kevin Mirallas gave James Tomkins a push in the chest and West Ham’s defender took a split-second to think about it before crumpling to the floor, hands over his face in pretend agony. I played as a pro for nearly 20 years around the globe and this now makes it all seem worthwhile – it gives me pride and satisfaction.” 'I played with great players... I just wish it had lasted longer'

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

They pour from the mouths of former players, fellow managers and football reporters who knew them. Even Don Revie retains a loyal army of admirers among former Leeds United players. On his appointment as youth development coach in November 1971 the Echo’s Michael Charters reported: “He is a hard man, a strict disciplinarian, a stern driver of players in training – but I suspect he also has a soft spot in his heart towards youngsters trying to find their feet in the demanding world of professional football.” However, this was also the era when Liverpool enjoyed the first wave of success under Shankly, which couldn’t have helped with the supporters’ sense of perspective. Centre half and captain Brian Labone was among the Everton players of the era to suggest that some of the performances delivered by the developing side between 1967 and ’69 were as good as any in the Championship season. Possibly the greatest era for the English game spanned the 1960’s when there seemed to be a plethora of characters, both on and off the pitch, vying for success – and notoriety. After all, it was the decade that brought us an explosion of cultural creativity and the birth of the cult of personality; football itself was not immune to the public’s fascination with its high profile individuals.

The veteran took his steps first on the managerial ladder at Crewe Alexandra (as a player-manager). From there he moved to Rochdale and did well enough to earn a tilt at the manager’s job at Sheffield Wednesday in 1958. His impact in South Yorkshire was dramatic. The Owls were promoted to the topflight at the first attempt, reached the FA Cup semi-final the following season and then pushed a great Tottenham Hotspur side all the way in the race for the 1960/61 League Championship. An enigma in many ways, he passed away aged 65 at Goodison Park in March 1985 after watching a game from the stands – fitting perhaps that his passing should be at the club which in his own way he obviously loved, but which never really loved him. He was too pragmatic for that, too cold, aloof and unforgiving of his players. So down the years, few have been willing to speak in glowing terms about their former boss. 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. All of a sudden, the ‘ School of Science‘ had toughened up – Stevens, Scott and Morrissey were no shrinking violets, had a winners’ mentality and the Blues became hard to beat.

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.