Howard Kendall

He was aged 17 years 345 days and was the youngest finalist since James Prinsep played for Clapham Rovers in the 1879 final aged 17 years 245 days.

Preston lost the final in the last minute.

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.

Born in Ryton, County Durham, Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice in 1961.

He turned professional in May 1963 and played in the 1964 FA Cup Final against West Ham United.

At the time he was the youngest player to appear in a Wembley final, his place in the side coming due to the regular left-half Ian Davidson being suspended by the club for an unauthorised trip to Scotland.

He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston, and at 17 years 345 days was the youngest player to play in a Wembley final.

Kendall never played for England at senior level despite being included in several squads, but won caps at Schoolboy, Youth and Under-23 level, captaining the England Youth side to victory in the 1964 Little World Cup Final.

In 1967 he joined Everton, where he played in midfield with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey, the trio gaining the nickname "The Holy Trinity".

With Everton, Kendall won the First Division title, the Charity Shield, and was again an FA Cup runner-up.

Originally a defender, Kendall was wanted by Bill Shankly at Liverpool but with Liverpool failing to provide the funds, he ended up joining Everton for £85,000 in March 1967 where he was moved into midfield with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey, the trio gaining the nickname "The Holy Trinity".

They were a major component of the Everton team that reached the 1968 FA Cup Final, with Kendall again ending up on the losing side, and they went on to win the First Division title in the 1969–70 season.

In the next three seasons, Kendall captained Everton as the side struggled to build on winning the league with a 17th-place finish in 1972–73.

He became Everton captain for three years before being sold to Birmingham City in 1974.

He was sold to Birmingham City in February 1974 and he spent four seasons at St Andrew's helping Birmingham survive in the First Division and reach the FA Cup semi-final in 1975.

Kendall joined Stoke City in 1977, where he became a player-coach and helped the club achieve promotion from the Second Division.

Kendall joined Stoke City in August 1977 for a fee of £40,000.

Stoke under the management of George Eastham had the task of regaining their place in the top flight following relegation.

However poor results in early part of the 1977–78 season saw Eastham sacked and replaced by Alan Durban in February 1978.

One of the first things Durban did was appoint Kendall as player-coach and he thrived in the role and his performances earned him the club's inaugural player of the year award.

Durban built the team around Kendall for the 1978–79 season as Stoke finished in third-place gaining promotion back to the First Division.

However, despite Durban wanting Kendall to play for him in the First Division, Kendall decided to join Third Division Blackburn Rovers as player-manager.

Kendall's managerial career began as a player-manager with Blackburn Rovers in 1979.

In June 1979 Kendall was assigned as player-manager at Blackburn Rovers, helping them win promotion back up to the Second Division in the 1979–80 season and narrowly missing out on promotion to the top tier in 1981 on goal difference.

He returned to Everton in 1981, again as a player-manager, but retired from playing after four games.

In May 1981 Kendall returned to Everton as player-manager, in the hope of restoring the club to its former glory, although he only played four games before finally retiring as a player in December 1981.

On his return to Goodison Park as manager, he made seven signings, including goalkeeper Neville Southall from Bury – who would go on to spend 17 years at the club and play a major part in five major trophy successes.

Over the next two seasons, he made further signings - including winger Trevor Steven and midfielder Peter Reid.

Everton finished eighth in Kendall's first season as manager and improved to seventh a year later, but began the 1983–84 season poorly, winning just six of their first 21 league games and standing on the brink of the relegation zone.

Kendall was reportedly on the verge of being sacked, but the second half of the season was a very different story.

Helped by the £250,000 signing of Wolves striker Andy Gray in November, Everton's form improved.

With Everton he won two Football League titles, an FA Cup, three Charity Shields, and the 1985 European Cup Winners' Cup, as well as a league runners-up place and reached two further FA Cup finals and a League Cup final.

In 1987, Kendall left to manage Spanish club Athletic Bilbao.

He was sacked in 1989, but quickly returned to management with Manchester City.

After less than a year in Manchester he rejoined Everton but, after three middling seasons he resigned and spent a short time managing Greek side Xanthi.

After a few months spent as manager of Notts County, Kendall joined Sheffield United, saving the club from relegation and then taking them to the 1997 play-off final.

He returned to Everton for the third time as manager in August 1997, but left the club by mutual consent having only managed to avoid relegation on the final day of the season.

His final managerial position was a four-month spell back in Greece, where he took charge of Ethnikos Piraeus and was sacked with the team at the bottom of the table.

A member of the League Managers Association's "Hall of Fame", the English Football Hall of Fame, and listed as an "Everton Giant", Kendall remains the last English manager to win a UEFA competition with an English club.