Mersey Hard Men: Johnny Morrissey was Everton FC's winger with bite

PUT THAT IN YOUR LITTLE BLACK BOOKJOHNNY MORRISSEY might not have been the first name on manager Harry Catterick's teamsheet . . . although despite international class competition like Alan Ball, Colin Harvey, Howard Kendall, Tommy Wright, Gordon West and Brian Labone, he certainly wasn't far behind.But the Everton winger was ALWAYS first pick in five-a-side.Team-mate Colin Harvey revealed that such was Morrissey's formidable reputation as a Mersey hard-man, even in training ground kick-abouts, that people always wanted him on their side.'He was a winger who famously used to terrify the full-back who marked him,' smiled his former team-mate.'He definitely belongs in any list of Mersey hard -men, but because of that reputation people don't give him enough credit for the skill he had - and he was very skilful.'He was an excellent crosser, with both feet. He would get up and down and put a good shift in every game. He was a real team player and when you put those qualities together you had a very good footballer.'But he knew how to tackle, too!'Leeds United were considered the most ruthless team of that era, with teak tough players who verged on the cynical.Names like Norman 'Bites Yer Legs' Hunter, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles and the formidable central defender Jackie Charlton were renowned for their ruthlessness.In October 1970 Charlton famously appeared on a TV programme where he said he'd once kept a 'little black book' of names of players whom he intended to hurt or exact some form of revenge upon.Johnny Morrissey presumably figured on page one.

Source: Liverpool_Echo