Moyes pays warm tribute to ´football man´ Kendall

David Moyes has paid tribute to Howard Kendall after the Everton great died at the age of 69.

Kendall starred as a player at Goodison Park, winning the First Division title in 1970 as part of an acclaimed line-up featuring Colin Harvey and Alan Ball.

He surpassed those feats during the first of three spells as Everton manager between 1981 and 1987, when he won the league title twice and guided them to glory in the FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup – achievements that Moyes believes establish him as the Merseyside club’s greatest tactician. 

Real Sociedad coach Moyes managed Everton between 2002 and 2013 and revealed that Kendall served as a mentoring figure to him throughout his time in charge.

“I’m really saddened to learn of the death of Howard Kendall,” Moyes said. “He was someone I looked up to because of his achievements at Everton

“He was a great manager and in my time at Everton he was fully supportive of me. He was always ready to give advice when it was needed. My thoughts are with his family.

“Undoubtedly, Howard will go down in Everton’s history as the finest manager to have worked at the club. He’ll be missed by everyone at Goodison and many throughout the game.

“After matches I’d bump in to him on the stairs or in the corridor and we’d always have a talk about the game.

“He was always full of common sense and was someone who didn’t give his opinion in anything other than a supportive way.

“He never said ‘you should be doing this or doing that’. He knew the manager’s job is hard. That was one of his traits – you could talk to him as a football man.”

Kendall coached Sociedad’s Basque neighbours Athletic Bilbao between 1987 and 1989 and Moyes believes his loss will also be keenly felt in Spanish football.

The Scotsman added: “He’ll be missed in Spain as well. He was at Athletic Bilbao and they still talk about him here.

“I’m sure there’ll be people thinking about him here this weekend.”