Source: Liverpool_Echo
Harry Catterick Story Part 3: The Day The Catt was ‘assaulted’ by fans
HE was the most successful Everton manager for 90 years. Throughout the club's trophy laden history, only Howard Kendall has won more silverware. And no-one has managed an Everton team, in more matches. Yet Harry Catterick's legacy is often shamefully overlooked. A man who generally shunned the limelight, his record of two league titles, one FA Cup and six top four finishes in eight seasons bears comparison with any of his contemporaries. It is 25 years since Catterick passed away - appropriately watching his beloved Blues at Goodison Park - and here is the final part of the Echo's tribute to his legacy.[LNB]THE idea that Bill Shankly might be physically attacked by Liverpool supporters during the 1960s was absurd.[LNB]The Anfield manager was adored by Kopites for building the team that took the Reds back to the top of English football after long years of underachievement.[LNB]Harry Catterick did a similar job in reviving Everton but he did not enjoy the same reverential regard from fans as the charismatic Scotsman from across Stanley Park.[LNB] Catterick commanded respect, lots of it. The title winning team he built in 1962/63, his second season at Goodison, saw to that.[LNB]But Catterick came over to the public as a cold fish, hard and pragmatic, who was much less likely to interact with supporters via the media than Shankly.[LNB]In 1966, midway between his two title wins and the year Everton would lift the FA Cup, Catterick was roughed up by fans.[LNB]The incident occurred after a defeat at Blackpool in which Catterick dropped supporters' favourite Alex Young in favour of giving a 16-year-old centre forward, Joe Royle, his debut.[LNB]By Catterick's own admission the incident, in which he suffered a sprained ankle and a bruised shin, became 'notorious.'[LNB]'I was assaulted by two or three hooligans on my way to the club coach,' Catterick said in a self penned article for the Daily Post five years later.[LNB]'This was a game in which I had introduced Joe Royle and (goalkeeper) Geoff Barnett to league football. My only regret was I was only two or three weeks out of hospital after a major operation and I was unable to do anything about it. Sadly a small group of hooligans are responsible for behaviour that is difficult to understand.'[LNB]Catterick went on: 'If we have 50,000 to 60,000 fans it means we're going to have 50 to 60 stupid people. I think at times our crowd are a bit too critical. But I realise they are ambitious for the club and much of their criticism stems from the desire to success. It is often misdirected and does not help.'[LNB]Catterick's professional detachment from the emotion of supporters may have caused some friction during the seven years when Everton's 62/63 title winning team was evolving into the 69/70 Championship side.[LNB]It is a tribute to Catterick's skills as a manager that Everton spent only one season outside the top six in those seven years. That was 1966.
