Former Everton coach Steve Burtenshaw has died at the age of 86.
Born in Portslade, a Sussex village that is now a western suburb of Brighton & Hove, on November 23, 1935, as a player Burtenshaw was a one-club man, turning out as a wing-half for local team Brighton & Hove Albion between 1952-66.
He passed away on Thursday February 17, 2022, in nearby Worthing.
Burtenshaw worked as a first-team coach for first Billy Bingham and then Gordon Lee at Everton in between his own managerial stints in charge of Sheffield Wednesday (1973-75) and Queens Park Rangers (1978-79).
He also had a four-game stint as Blues caretaker boss in January 1977 following Bingham’s sacking, which included a 1-1 draw at home to Bolton Wanderers in a League Cup semi-final first leg.
There was a similar stint at Arsenal in 1986 and Burtenshaw returned to Highbury to work as a coach and then chief scout.
He also did scouting work for QPR and Manchester City before retiring.
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Burtenshaw was a popular figure during his time at Everton.
In Simon Hart’s Here We Go: Everton in the 1980s , former Blues captain Kevin Ratcliffe attributed the departure of Burtenshaw and replacement with Eric Harrison as a major contributor to Lee’s downfall as manager.
The Welshman said: “Eric Harrison was in your face and a bit OTT.
“He would make you a bag of nerves shouting at you and his promotion from reserve-team football didn’t go down well with the first-teamers losing Steve and getting Eric, a non-league player.”
There are also a couple of notable incidents from Burtenshaw’s spell with the Blues.
Ahead of the 1977 League Cup final against Aston Villa at Wembley, Everton were training at Seldsdon Park which was also the hockey pitch for Croydon Girls’ High School, when an irate games mistress Sheila Plant walked over first to Burtenshaw and then his manager Lee, demanding that they replaced the divots the Blues squad had made in the turf.
The moment was caught on camera, with another individual, possibly a caretaker, rather than Burtenshaw himself in shot, while Lee attempts to placate the furious teacher while Goodison ‘Godfather’ John Moores, one of the richest and most-ruthless businessmen in Europe and the chairman who infamously sacked Everton manager Johnny Carey while riding with him in a taxi, appears to be trying to scarper from the scene.
Earlier that season, with previous manager Bingham absent while recovering from an operation, Burtenshaw had overseen a 3-0 Everton defeat at West Bromwich Albion where their coach was left seething by a dog that ran on to the pitch.
Taking up the farcical tale in his new book Boys From The Blue Stuff: Everton’s Rise to 1980s Glory , Gavin Buckland writes: “The visitors were a goal down inside five minutes and on the half-hour came a quite surreal incident when a small Jack Russell dog entered the playing area and referee John Hunting bizarrely allowed play to continue.
“The white intruder – or brown and white according to the very observant Daily Mirror – chased the ball around the pitch for a full two minutes, the ‘pressing’ tactics forcing Terry Darracott, Ken McNaught and full-back Dave Jones into a series of square passes, until one to the goalkeeper caused chaos.
“Dai Davies came out for the ball but stopped as the dog went for him and in the confusion, West Brom’s David Cross took advantage to dribble pas the stranded goalkeeper (and the dog) to fire home.
“The Jack Russell then followed up and headed the ball into the back of the net. The shell-shocked visitors conceded a third before the break and the game was over.”
Burtenshaw himself was not amused and said: “I think the game should have been stopped because our players were definitely harassed by the dog.”
