I saw Everton legend train in pain - I am sure he had say in decision that changed my future

Everton’s most-successful captain Kevin Ratcliffe has cited the impact of Colin Harvey and his “immense intensity” as being a big factor in the forging of the club’s glory days in the mid-1980s.

Last summer, Everton super fan David France hailed Harvey as being: “The greatest living Evertonian” and Ratcliffe reckons the 79-year-old True Blue from Fazakerley who served the club as a player, coach and manager, played a pivotal role in their rise under the stewardship of his former midfield colleague Howard Kendall. Speaking exclusively on the first edition of the Royal Blue podcast’s Goodison Park: My Home series created to mark the countdown to Everton’s historic stadium move, Ratcliffe told the ECHO: “Colin Harvey getting promoted from reserve team coach to first team coach, that was the big one for me. We also had Andy Gray coming into the squad and Peter Reid getting to play, they were strong characters and Colin was a strong character of high standards, not just on the pitch but in training.

“That all changed. Mick Heaton (who Kendall had brought with him from Blackburn Rovers) was a lovely fella but it was a little bit too relaxed.

“The intensity with Colin was immense. I’d known that because I’d come through as an apprentice, then he’d taken me as youth team coach and then he was my reserve team coach.

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“So Colin knew everything about me. I think it was a big shock to some of the older lads at the time, especially with the way he used to talk to some people.

“He didn’t give two hoots who you were, what