Pat's Van
Player Valuation: £70m
Bon appetite and bienvenido, previous player v player threads I’ve thrown up so far have concentrated on players who held the same position, so this time I thought I’d change it up a bit and look at two players from different parts of the team. Although both the players have surname beginning with “H”, so that’s a nice connection. Another connection is that today’s pairing were both integral parts of sides that have seen the toffees undergo sustained periods of success, firstly, ladies and gentlemen, we have one third of our much lauded Holy Trinity, Colin Harvey Esq., and from the award winning, all conquering super team of the 1980’s we have the diminutive deity that is one Adrian “Inchy” Heath.
Our Men.
I’ll kick off with Harvey, (not literally because he’d punch my head in) or as he’s been known to certain fans who were around during his playing days, The White Pele. Was that a joke? Sarcasm perhaps? Not at all, Colin seriously was that good. OK maybe not Pele standards, but when given the ball his link up play was sublime, his passing and vision second to none, and when allied alongside his famous colleagues of Kendall and Ball, it wasn’t long before the league title was once again locked up in the Goodison Park trophy cabinet.
Harvey’s goal tally may not have been the highest of the three HT members, I’ve heard some more knowledgeable fans talk of him not having the same confidence in his shooting boots as the others, but he brought a lot more to the game than goals. Maybe better described as a defensively minded midfielder, he played the game beautifully and without his semi–final goal against the mancs in 1966, we may never have gone on to win what was then our third FA Cup. Also, we should not overlook the fact that it was a Colin Harvey goal against a West Brom side that ultimately clinched our league title in 1970, and etched into Everton folklore forever, the names Harvey, Kendall and Ball.
But was Colin a little overshadowed by Kendall and Ball? He was a speedy player, he could tackle, and he was consistent too, subtle attributes some would say, but this guy could spray a pass to a forward like you wouldn’t believe, and was fully able to snuff out any opposition balls going in the other direction. Yet I’m of the opinion that one could be forgiven for thinking his name doesn’t necessarily conjure up the same fantasy football provoking images of his two closely associated team mates. But there’s a good reason they were the Holy Trinity, all three could play.
Colin himself has actually stated that Everton of 1968 were perhaps a better footballing team than 1970 but didn’t really have the consistency that the later side did. And was the White Pele tag deserved ? Well in an interview in the late 70s former Blues boss Harry Catterick claimed that in terms of “skill and ability, Colin was the best out of the three”, with fellow great George Best saying “he was a delight to watch and play against.” High praise indeed, although Besty was always p!ssed so could’ve said that about anyone to be fair.
And now the other fella, Adriaaaaaaaaaaaan Heath, an altogether different cuttlefish to Harvey, initially brought over by Howard Kendall (whom he played for previously at Stoke) as a midfielder, his keen eye for a goal seen him evolve into a sort of second forward for us, usually linking up as a foil to Sharp, Lineker or Wayne Clarke and wow did he score some goals, some very important ones too. Were it not for his now crucial strike against Oxford in the league cup that was the turning point for Everton’s season 1983 /84, would we have gone on to become as great as we did in the mid 80’s? Well he did, and we did, thank God/Colin Harvey.
Adriaaaaaan wasn’t an ever present in those fabulous footballing sides under Kendall, it was mainly down to injuries that kept him out of the side. But let it be known that this was an extremely talented individual who fought for every ball, had the instincts of a sniffer dog, and loved his time at the toffs.
He states himself …“The first league title was special and winning the FA Cup was something else. More importantly, I played with some really good people. My teammates – Reidy, Sheeds, Sharpy, Nev, Rats, Brace and the others – we all stayed pretty close throughout the years. I like to call them my friends.
“I still say to this day that I feel proud and humbled to play in the most successful period in the Club’s history. I will take that to my grave with me.”
Heath has got all the medals, he was as mentioned, an integral part of the sides that bagged the lot during the mid-80’s. But again, maybe it’s just me, his name doesn’t seem to be as lauded when mentioned alongside as some of his team mates from that time, Southall, Ratcliffe, Sharp. But we blues know who Heath was, and it could be argued that we couldn’t have done it all without him, and I also know the sh!te fkn hated him too, gotta be a reason for that!
Everton's top scorer in his first full season, scoring 18 in all comps through 83-84. That’s what he was good at, sticking it in the onion bag. Unfortunately, he didn’t play an awful lot of games during the 84-85 season but was a very strong part of it, he managed to bag 12 goals even though he was all done by christmas. Mainly thanks to some utter sh!t-house c*** called Brian “F*&£ing” Marwood. But Adriaaaaaaan came back fighting and eventually went on to win another league title a couple of years later with the toffs.
So there we have the two players about whom, the question I would like to ask today is this, who out of the two, would you rather have in today’s side??? Who, right now, do we need more ???
Now I'm not talking as a manager instead of Roberto, Harvey's had his shot at that and Heath is now apparently an "up and comer" with the Orlando Bubblejets. So today, solely on playing ability please.
What does the current team need more?
The touch, toughness, guile and graft of Mr Harvey, or the swift instincts and cool finishing of Mr Heath ?
Up to you to decide….
los previosos...
https://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/bob-latchford-v-duncan-ferguson.73642/
https://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/tg-jones-v-marco-materazzi.73884/
Our Men.
I’ll kick off with Harvey, (not literally because he’d punch my head in) or as he’s been known to certain fans who were around during his playing days, The White Pele. Was that a joke? Sarcasm perhaps? Not at all, Colin seriously was that good. OK maybe not Pele standards, but when given the ball his link up play was sublime, his passing and vision second to none, and when allied alongside his famous colleagues of Kendall and Ball, it wasn’t long before the league title was once again locked up in the Goodison Park trophy cabinet.
Harvey’s goal tally may not have been the highest of the three HT members, I’ve heard some more knowledgeable fans talk of him not having the same confidence in his shooting boots as the others, but he brought a lot more to the game than goals. Maybe better described as a defensively minded midfielder, he played the game beautifully and without his semi–final goal against the mancs in 1966, we may never have gone on to win what was then our third FA Cup. Also, we should not overlook the fact that it was a Colin Harvey goal against a West Brom side that ultimately clinched our league title in 1970, and etched into Everton folklore forever, the names Harvey, Kendall and Ball.
But was Colin a little overshadowed by Kendall and Ball? He was a speedy player, he could tackle, and he was consistent too, subtle attributes some would say, but this guy could spray a pass to a forward like you wouldn’t believe, and was fully able to snuff out any opposition balls going in the other direction. Yet I’m of the opinion that one could be forgiven for thinking his name doesn’t necessarily conjure up the same fantasy football provoking images of his two closely associated team mates. But there’s a good reason they were the Holy Trinity, all three could play.
Colin himself has actually stated that Everton of 1968 were perhaps a better footballing team than 1970 but didn’t really have the consistency that the later side did. And was the White Pele tag deserved ? Well in an interview in the late 70s former Blues boss Harry Catterick claimed that in terms of “skill and ability, Colin was the best out of the three”, with fellow great George Best saying “he was a delight to watch and play against.” High praise indeed, although Besty was always p!ssed so could’ve said that about anyone to be fair.
And now the other fella, Adriaaaaaaaaaaaan Heath, an altogether different cuttlefish to Harvey, initially brought over by Howard Kendall (whom he played for previously at Stoke) as a midfielder, his keen eye for a goal seen him evolve into a sort of second forward for us, usually linking up as a foil to Sharp, Lineker or Wayne Clarke and wow did he score some goals, some very important ones too. Were it not for his now crucial strike against Oxford in the league cup that was the turning point for Everton’s season 1983 /84, would we have gone on to become as great as we did in the mid 80’s? Well he did, and we did, thank God/Colin Harvey.
Adriaaaaaan wasn’t an ever present in those fabulous footballing sides under Kendall, it was mainly down to injuries that kept him out of the side. But let it be known that this was an extremely talented individual who fought for every ball, had the instincts of a sniffer dog, and loved his time at the toffs.
He states himself …“The first league title was special and winning the FA Cup was something else. More importantly, I played with some really good people. My teammates – Reidy, Sheeds, Sharpy, Nev, Rats, Brace and the others – we all stayed pretty close throughout the years. I like to call them my friends.
“I still say to this day that I feel proud and humbled to play in the most successful period in the Club’s history. I will take that to my grave with me.”
Heath has got all the medals, he was as mentioned, an integral part of the sides that bagged the lot during the mid-80’s. But again, maybe it’s just me, his name doesn’t seem to be as lauded when mentioned alongside as some of his team mates from that time, Southall, Ratcliffe, Sharp. But we blues know who Heath was, and it could be argued that we couldn’t have done it all without him, and I also know the sh!te fkn hated him too, gotta be a reason for that!
Everton's top scorer in his first full season, scoring 18 in all comps through 83-84. That’s what he was good at, sticking it in the onion bag. Unfortunately, he didn’t play an awful lot of games during the 84-85 season but was a very strong part of it, he managed to bag 12 goals even though he was all done by christmas. Mainly thanks to some utter sh!t-house c*** called Brian “F*&£ing” Marwood. But Adriaaaaaaan came back fighting and eventually went on to win another league title a couple of years later with the toffs.
So there we have the two players about whom, the question I would like to ask today is this, who out of the two, would you rather have in today’s side??? Who, right now, do we need more ???
Now I'm not talking as a manager instead of Roberto, Harvey's had his shot at that and Heath is now apparently an "up and comer" with the Orlando Bubblejets. So today, solely on playing ability please.
What does the current team need more?
The touch, toughness, guile and graft of Mr Harvey, or the swift instincts and cool finishing of Mr Heath ?
Up to you to decide….
los previosos...
https://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/bob-latchford-v-duncan-ferguson.73642/
https://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/tg-jones-v-marco-materazzi.73884/
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