James Colin Harvey (born 16 November 1944) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who is best known for his time as a player, coach and manager with Everton.

Playing career

Harvey was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England and joined Everton as an apprentice in 1960. Harvey was often described as an elegant and skilful player and was nicknamed the "White

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

" by Everton fans. "A beautiful footballer this boy" commented Kenneth Wolstenhome during the

1968 FA Cup final The 1968 FA Cup final was the 87th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 18 May 1968 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between West Bromwich Albion and Everton. West Brom won 1–0 after extra time. Jeff Astle scored the winning goal, thus ...

, while ''Goal'' magazine called him "a delightful player to watch". The 'White Pele' nickname came about because of his natural ability, grace and technique:

Debut

Harvey made his debut in 1963, aged 18, against Italian side

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

in a

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

tie in the chaotic

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

Stadium. He became a first team regular during the 1964–65 season. Of the occasion he said:

Holy Trinity

Harvey became a part of the famous midfield trio known as the "Holy Trinity" with Alan Ball and

Howard Kendall Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager. Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston ...

. Widely regarded as the best midfield of their generation, they were the key components of Everton's

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

winning team in the 1969–70 season

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

ed by

Brian Labone Brian Leslie Labone (23 January 1940 – 24 April 2006) was an English footballer who played for and captained Everton. A one-club man, Labone's professional career lasted from 1958 to 1971, during which he won the Football League championship ...

. In an interview in the late 1970s, Harry Catterick claimed that in terms of "skill and ability, Colin was the best of the three". Of the late 1960s/early 70s Everton side,

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

said "they were a delight to watch and indeed play against." It was in fact Harvey's superb solo goal which clinched the title at Goodison Park vs

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

which has been described as one of the best ever goals to win the league championship. He also helped Everton win the

1970 FA Charity Shield The 1970 FA Charity Shield was the 48th FA Charity Shield, the annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Football League and FA Cup competitions. It was contested between Everton, the reigning First Division champ ...

After Everton

In 1974 he left Everton to join Sheffield Wednesday, where he finished his playing career shortly afterwards.

England

Despite his success at club level Harvey only made one appearance for the senior England team; this coming in a

UEFA Euro 1972 The 1972 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Belgium. This was the fourth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 14 and 18 June 1972. Only four ...

qualification game against

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

Managerial career

After leading Everton to the First Division title in 1986–87, Kendall left to manage

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

and Harvey stepped up to manage Everton. Harvey led them to the

1987 FA Charity Shield The 1987 FA Charity Shield (also known as the General Motors FA Charity Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 65th Charity Shield, a football match contested by the holders of the Football League First Division and FA Cup. This edition was c ...

and managed the club until 1990, when Kendall returned to manage Everton and Harvey stepped down to be his assistant. Harvey left Everton shortly after Kendall's departure in December 1993, he then had a brief spell as assistant manager at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

and in November 1994 became assistant to

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

's new player-manager

Graeme Sharp Graeme Marshall Sharp (born 16 October 1960) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. Sharp played as a forward for Dumbarton, Everton, Oldham Athletic and Bangor City. He enjoyed great success with Everton, helping them ...

following the departure of

Joe Royle Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the E ...

to Everton. Sharp left Oldham in March 1997, and Harvey followed him out of the

Boundary Park Boundary Park is a football stadium in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. Its name originates from the fact that it lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively. Bound ...

exit door, but was soon back in the game as

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

assistant manager to

Adrian Heath Adrian Paul Heath (born 11 January 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He most recently served as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United until October 2023. As a player, he is best known for his six season ...

, however after just a matter of months he was appointed Everton's youth coach when Howard Kendall became manager for a third time. Evertonians have nominated Colin Harvey for an MBE for over forty years worth of service to Everton F.C. In 2008 Harvey began working for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

, during

Gary Megson Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager. He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers and ...

's tenure at the club. In July 2012 it was announced that Harvey had left his chief scouting role after just over four years at the club.

Personal life

Harvey is married to Maureen and lives in

Aughton, Lancashire Aughton is a village and civil parish in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. It is located between Ormskirk and Maghull, approximately north of Liverpool and south-west of Preston. The parish is rural to the south and west ...

."When Mersey footballers' weddings were a simpler affair"
Greg O'Keeffe,

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...

, 13 June 2008. Colin Harvey's brother,

Brian Harvey Brian Lee Harvey (born 8 August 1974) is an English singer from London. He was the lead singer of pop group East 17. The later incarnation of the band, E-17, had two top 20 singles on the UK Singles Chart between 1998 and 1999, with the album ...

, was a footballer who forged a career playing for clubs on four continents before coaching in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Honours

Everton *

: 1969–70 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

: 1965–66; runner-up: 1967–68 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

The History of Everton Football Club – Colin Harvey

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Colin 1944 births Living people English men's footballers England men's international footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Everton F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players English football managers Everton F.C. managers Mansfield Town F.C. non-playing staff Oldham Athletic A.F.C. non-playing staff Burnley F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff People from Aughton, Lancashire English Football League players Footballers from Liverpool English Football League representative players Men's association football midfielders