Howard Kendall: Everton's greatest servant

He will be remembered for many things - becoming the youngest Wembley finalist as a 17-year-old in 1964, forging a title-winning 'holy trinity' alongside Alan Ball and Colin Harvey, being the last English coach to win a major European competition.

But there is arguably a simpler way to define his time in the game: Everton's greatest ever servant.

Born in County Durham in May 1946 as a miner's son, he played schoolboy football as a defender for Washington Grammer School.

Kendall might have been the most successful sporting graduate from that side, but one of his former team-mates, Bryan Ferry, went on to become an A-list pop star with Roxy Music.

Ferry's career path was apparently an apt one, with Kendall recalling him as "a wimpy right-winger" in an interview with the Independent.

Pushed to pursue a life in football by his father, Jack, Kendall was signed by Preston and his parents promptly moved to Lancashire in support.

Fate took him back to the north-east for his debut as a 16-year-old at Newcastle's St James' Park, and just a year later he was a record-breaker.

At just 17 years and 345 days he became the youngest player in a Wembley cup final, though a 3-2 win for West Ham spoiled his big day.

But it was not until he became a Toffee in an £85,000 deal in 1967 that Kendall's story truly began.

His autobiography, released in 2013, went by the name Love Affairs and Marriage - a metaphorical allusion to Everton as his footballing soulmate.

Every other assignment, some more successful than others, was ultimately extra-marital.

Kendall, now a midfielder, dovetailed with Ball and Harvey in memorable fashion and the trio were key to winning the First Division title in 1969/70.

It was the peak of a playing career that saw him spend three years as Everton captain before spells at Birmingham, Stoke and Blackburn.

At Rovers he became player-manager, winning promotion to the second tier before heading back to Stanley Park.

He wore the blue shirt just four more times before retiring to concentrate on his management duties.

After a tough start he began to leave his imprint on the team, finally getting his hands on an FA Cup winner's medal in 1984.

That was the start of a dominant period for the club, who ended a 15-year wait to be crowned league champions the following season before Kendall repeated the feat two years later.

Both times they left rivals Liverpool trailing in second place, a fact that was not lost on the faithful.

Kendall also proved his nous on the continent, winning the Cup Winner's Cup in 1985 for a remarkable double. He remains the last Englishman to experience such European success.

The European ban on England led to one of his more exotic 'affairs', a two-year spell with Athletic Bilbao that ended in mutual frustration and a sacked Kendall taking over Manchester City.

He began promisingly at Maine Road but was lured back to Everton when the job came up. But the order had shifted and while his arrival saw an initial spike in results he could not lift them beyond mid-table status before being let go in 1993.

He drifted to Greek side Xanthi, Notts County and Sheffield United before the magnetic pull between man and club led to an ill-fated third reunion in 1997.

It looked set to end in relegation and although it was the end of the road, Kendall was belatedly spared the heartache of taking his beloved club down.

He was just 52 when the curtain came down on his top-flight managerial days, signing off with a curious epilogue in Piraeus.

Kendall applied for a couple of jobs thereafter, including Ipswich, but his next meaningful appointment came in 2005 as an inductee into English football's Hall of Fame.