Former Everton player Henry Newton celebrates his 80th birthday today but the future League Championship-winner struggled during his time at Goodison Park

Many happy returns to Henry Newton on his 80th birthday, a player whose ‘crime’ in the eyes of Evertonians it seems was that he wasn’t Colin Harvey, Howard Kendall or Alan Ball.

Born in Nottingham on February 18, 1944, ahead of a week that would see HMS Warwick torpedoed off the Cornish coast with the loss of 66 men, over half her crew, plus the last heavy air raids on London of the Second World War, Newton would make 281 appearances for home city club Forest, scoring 17 goals. Although the England Under-23 international, like Kendall, missed out on any senior caps in an era in which Alf Ramsey remained devoted to his tried and trusted options – Harvey was only capped once – he arrived with a stellar reputation.