GOODISON SPARK
Howard Kendall was one game from the sack but led Everton out of dark...koeman MUST reignite the passion and do same
KEVIN RATCLIFFE still remembers the ‘Kendall Out’ slogans daubed on Merseyside walls as Everton struggled in the lower reaches of the old First Division.
Howard Kendall, the man feted as the Blues’ greatest manager as he transformed Goodison Park into an Aladdin’s Cave of trophies in the 80s, was close to the sack in those grim early days.
The turning point for Kendall was the League Cup third-round visit of Coventry City on November 9, 1983.
Former Everton defender Ratcliffe said: “Howard was going to get sacked the next day because we were going through a really bad time. Lose against Coventry and he was out.
“On some of the walls outside the ground fans had pained ‘Kendall Out’.
“We won the game 2-1 in front of just 9,080 fans. The next day he promoted Colin Harvey from reserve team coach to first-team coach and the day after that we signed Andy Gray.
“Bringing in Peter Reid also helped galvanise the dressing room. He was such a determined person on and off the field – a real winner. And our fortunes changed overnight.”
Ratcliffe was also made captain at the age of just 23, while in keeper Neville Southall the club had another strong character.
What current Toffees boss Ronald Koeman would give to have some of the gutsy determined spirit of the 80s as he faces his own crisis.
The Dutchman finds himself under fire from some Evertonians dismayed by the club’s nightmare start to a season which promised so much after a £140million spending spree signed off by ambitious majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri (below).
And while Ratcliffe, now 56, accepts Koeman is expected to deliver, the former Wales captain who presided over two league title wins, an FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup victories at Goodison, believes the current boss should be given more time to turn things around.
He said: “If Everton had dumped Kendall then the club’s history would probably have been rewritten – and not for the better.
“At the moment, Everton don’t look a better side than last season – and we’ve spent £140m.
“Are some of the new players like Davy Klaassen or Gylfi Sigurdsson better than Gareth Barry for instance? Are they better than James Mccarthy? Probably not on what we have seen so far.
“They were big fish at their old clubs, who weren’t expected to be beat the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United. But at Everton you are expected to compete and win against these teams. It is a different type of pressure and you are taken out of your comfort zone.
“So far it looks like they can’t handle it.”
Ratcliffe also believes Koeman needs to win over his players, too. He added: “Sometimes he comes over as being quite arrogant, which doesn’t go down well in the dressing room.
“I think it’s hard to give Koeman advice. He was a top player at Barcelona, some of that coming from being mentally strong.
“And he has brought some of that into his management. It doesn’t matter what you say – he is right. He needs to sit back and reassess everything.”
Or see the light like Kendall in his darkest hours. Ratfcliffe added: “He put on every training ground light if it was dark. He wanted it to be bright, not all doom and gloom.”