Howard Kendall
Howard Kendall is, quite simply, the greatest and most successful manager that the Club has ever had – but his ability and influence as a player means that, regardless of his managerial exploits, a place in the Club's Hall of Fame was always inevitable.
One-third of the famous Holy Trinity of midfield maestros, which also includes fellow Giants Alan Ball and Colin Harvey, the trio's mesmeric play proved the catalyst for the 1969/70 league title success.
Kendall began his playing career at Preston North End as an apprentice in 1961. He turned professional in May 1963 and played in the 1964 FA Cup final against West Ham United.
At the time he was the youngest player to appear in a Wembley final, his place in the side coming due to the regular left-half Ian Davidson being suspended by the club for an unauthorised trip to Scotland. He was aged 17 years and 345 days and was the youngest finalist since James Prinsep played for Clapham Rovers in the 1879 final aged 17 years and 245 days.
Originally a defender, Kendall joined Everton for £85,000 in March 1967, where he was moved into midfield with Ball and Harvey. After winning the title in 1970, Kendall became the skipper of the side for the next three seasons but the Blues struggled to build on their title triumph.
The Club finished 17th in 1972/73, but Kendall had already departed - he was sold to Birmingham City in February 1974.
He spent four seasons at St Andrew's helping Birmingham survive in the First Division.
He then joined Stoke City in August 1977 for a fee of £40,000. Kendall became a player-coach a little over a year later and he thrived in the role and his performances earned him the club's inaugural player of the year award.
Alan Durban built the team around Kendall for the 1978/79 season as Stoke finished in third place, gaining promotion back to the First Division in the process.
However, despite Durban wanting Kendall to play for him in the First Division, Kendall decided to join Third Division Blackburn Rovers as player-manager - as his meteoric rise to managerial excellence began.
He stayed with Blackburn for almost two years before returning to Everton to play a handful of games, again as player-manager, prior to retiring from the playing side in September 1981.
Howard Kendall was a fabulous footballer - reckoned by many within the game to be the best player never to win an England cap - but it was as Everton manager that he enjoyed his finest moments..
After succeeding Gordon Lee to become Everton player-manager in the summer of 1981, he began plotting the Blues' return to the top with an immediate, and plentiful, recruitment drive. Alan Ainscow, Jim Arnold, Alan Biley, Mick Ferguson, Mike Walsh, Neville Southall and Mickey Thomas became known as the Magnificent Seven - with all enticed to Goodison by Kendall prior to the start of the 1981/82 campaign.
Only Southall went on to make anything like a telling contribution, however. Nevertheless, finishing eighth at the end of his first season was a decent start for Kendall. Seventh at the end of the next season wasn't too bad either, but there was still plenty of scope for improvement… and it came, eventually, the following year.
The 1983/84 season will go down as a genuine watershed for Everton. It had everything… including a fans' campaign for Kendall to be sacked.
Six wins in 21 league games left the Toffees in a precarious position in the First Division table and the punters voted with their feet - with just 13,659 spectators sitting through a tedious 0-0 draw with Coventry City at Goodison on New Year's Eve.
The crowd may have been sparse but the chants of 'Kendall out' must have been deafening for a man who was desperate to turn things around.
The Chairman stood by his man, Kendall stood by his players, Kevin Brock inadvertently teed up Adrian Heath for a late League Cup equaliser at Oxford United in January, and sure enough, the tide began to turn. Everton reached the League Cup final, only to lose to Liverpool, but then went one better by lifting the FA Cup, defeating Watford at Wembley.
The best, though, was yet to come. Everton's magnificent finish to the 1983/84 season brought heightened expectations - and Kendall didn't disappoint.
The 1984/85 championship was won in comfort as well as style, the European Cup Winners' Cup was brought to Goodison after a memorable run through to the final, and a unique treble was only denied the team when tiredness caught up with them in extra-time at Wembley in a second successive FA Cup final.
Kendall was, quite rightly, the Manager of the Year, but Everton suffered double disappointment the following season, finishing second to Liverpool in both the title race and the FA Cup final.
But the position of Merseyside 'top-dogs' was well and truly restored 12 months later when the title was bagged once again - the ninth championship success in the Club's history.
Sadly, things were never quite the same again for Kendall as manager.
Having conquered England, Kendall moved abroad to Athletic Bilbao during the summer of 1987. After a decent spell in Spain, he came back to these shores to take the poisoned chalice that was the Manchester City hotseat. He was doing well at Maine Road but when the Toffees came calling, he simply couldn't resist.
His second tenure though, from November 1990 to December 1993, was one of frustration and he was some distance from rekindling the glory of the '80s.
After the departure of Joe Royle in 1997, Kendall was tempted back yet again but it was a one-season stay that came within a match of Everton losing their top-flight status.
We make no apologies for glossing over Howard Kendall's second and third spells as manager of Everton Football Club. His first was the best ever, and that's all that matters.
Howard's sudden passing on 17 October 2015 evoked widespread sadness and mourning across the Everton family and football world, with the outpouring of grief at Goodison Park reflective of his immense, irreplacable status at the Club.
He will forever be remembered as one of the greatest Evertonians.
