As Goodison Park bids farewell to senior men’s football on Sunday we talk to Everton legend Colin Harvey about his lifelong associating with the club

Sweeping the stands and picking up bits of odd change dropped by fans, or washing the kit in huge washing machines in the corridors of the stadium, Colin Harvey has seen it all at Goodison Park.

Before those days carrying out the tasks of a teenage apprentice for Everton, Harvey had stood in the legendary Boys’ Pen alongside his brother Brian watching his beloved team.

Afterwards they would wait at the pawn brokers near the ground for their dad Jim, who stood on the Gwladys Street, before they made their way home on the bus to Fazakerley.

They once saw the legendary player Dave Hickson on the same bus, he was going home to Aintree after the match. 

He said:

“My dad got a cigarette packet out of his packet and got him to sign it for me. Imagine that now, a player on a bus!”

It’s a lifelong association with the club – and the famous Grand Old Lady – that can be beaten few others associated with Everton, not that shy and humble Harvey would like to admit that. He just feels lucky to have enjoyed a special career at his boyhood team.

Such is his place in the club’s history, he is immortalised alongside his famous midfield partners Alan Ball and Howard Kendall in a statue across the road from where that pawn brokers once stood. 

The Holy Trinity in the shadow of the stadium where they graced the pitch in one of the best teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The stadium that bids farewell to professional men’s football on Sunday.

“People keep asking me if I want the statue to move to the new ground and once there was part of me that thought yes. But now I know Goodison is to remain open for the women’s team I am glad it will stay there. That’s where we played our football and it feels right,” he said.

“It means that if Evertonians of past eras are ever feeling nostalgic then they can go and see Goodison and see the statue. 

“It’s quite something for a lad from Fazakerley who watched Everton then played for them to have a statue right there. It’s amazing really.”

Harvey signed schoolboy forms for Everton in 1961. He had been briefly scouted by Liverpool and had also just started a job with the NHS when Harry Cook, the Everton scout, went to the family home and offered him the chance to play for his heroes. But first it was a tough apprenticeship, including sweeping, washing and cleaning first team boots.

“On a Monday we used to brush the stands and terraces after the game on Saturday. We used to find a few bob in loose change, no notes or anything but a few coins. After brushing up we’d train on the little pitch at the Park End where the car park is now.

“It was a two year apprenticeship. We’d also clean all the boots in the old boot room and wash the kit. We weren’t great, we’d throw loads of washing powder in and there would be bubbles everywhere!”

Harvey went on to make his debut for Everton in a European Cup match against Inter Milan when he was just 18 but his first run out as a first team player at Goodison was anything but auspicious.

He said:

“It was 1963 and it was Good Friday. I made a really bad mistake early on and then just made mistake after mistake. I just froze.

“The next game I was dropped. Not just dropped but 12^th man for the reserves. Looking back the manager Harry Catterick did the right thing taking me right out of it and taking the pressure off but at the time I wasn’t happy.”

After that first Goodison disaster, things turned around after a few seasons and Harvey went on to be one of the highest rated midfielders in the English game.

Alongside Ball and Kendall, he forged a magical footballing trio that is still talked about by Everton fans to this day.

But no glitz and glamour for him after a match at Goodison.

“I’d go to the Railway pub in Fazakerley and meet my dad, Grandad, Uncle Billy and ‘Fiery’ Jack Kershaw for a pint,” he remembered.

“They didn’t treat me any differently, but they certainly didn’t criticise me if I’d had a bad game. They didn’t need to. I would have a right face on me because I knew.”

Clearly the unveiling of the statue in 2019 was a special moment for Harvey, tinged with sadness that his two late friends and teammates were sadly not there to see it.

One of his most memorable on pitch moments though was scoring the second goal in the game that clinched the championship in 1970.

“I didn’t score many goals so that was special.

“We got presented with our medals in the Director’s Box and I spotted my dad who’d managed to make his way nearby. It was just such a special moment. There was my dad who’d taken me to the match seeing me win the league at Goodison. He gave me a thumbs up.”

The team just “fell apart” after that season Harvey admits, and his career was blighted by a hip injury and ended at Sheffield Wednesday.

He returned to Everton as a youth team coach a few years later, quietly moving his way up the ranks with a tough but thoughtful and often revolutionary approach to the job.

He coached greats like Neville Southall and Kevin Ratcliffe in the reserves before being promoted to first team coach in 1983. The rest, as they say, is history with the team going on to win two league championships, the FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup.

His coaching career saw him help develop the talents of players including Wayne Rooney and while he loved sharing his knowledge, it never compared to pulling on the royal blue shirt and running out at the glorious Goodison.

He said:

“No one goes into football wanting to be a coach or manager. When Brian and I were watching Everton as kids we loved football and wanted to play. We never said we wanted to play for Everton but maybe deep down I always did. We didn’t say it out loud but we might have thought it. 

“I loved playing at Goodison, especially at night when the flood lights were on. You couldn’t see the crowd, it was like being on a stage. 

“When it was full and you were playing well, I was just in the zone. If you weren’t playing well the crowd would let you know and that’s fine.”

Harvey won’t be at the match on Sunday. The arthritis that finished his playing career causes him too much pain and discomfort to make his way down Goodison Road or climb the stairs to a seat in the stand.

He made a private visit to Goodison last November to see banners made in his honour by fans groups Gwladys Street 1938 and the 1878s to mark his 80^th birthday.

But he loves the fact it has been rescued from the bulldozers and will be a critical part in the future of the women’s game, not least because his grand daughter is also a talented midfielder.

Never one to tempt fate he laughs when asked if he thinks he might see her play there one day in a professional game.

“She’s actually played there in a schoolgirl cup final. And they won,” he said proudly.

From standing on the terraces, sweeping the stands to playing, coaching, managing and as a proud Grandad spectator, Goodison will always have a special place in the heart of Colin Harvey.

For now he will watch Sunday’s final match on the TV with all his memories of glory nights at Goodison.

He said:

“From being a fan going with my dad and brother, to a player and coach and manager, then having a statue there – I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

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