Kendall joined Everton in 1967 from Preston North End and he soon became part of the the most famous trio in the history of the club. The Holy Trinity of Kendall, Colin Harvey and Alan Ball led Everton to the 1970 League Title and it was a team that is regarded by many Evertonians as the greatest Everton team of all time.

One of the most fitting things to show how much of a legend Howard Kendall is, is that the debate about the greatest ever Everton team is between the 1970 Championship winning side which he was an integral part of, and also the 1985 Championship and European Cup Winners Cup winning side, which he was the manager of. And it is Howard Kendall as a manager that the majority of Evertonians will remember him for.

Kendall took over the Everton managers position from Gordon Lee in 1981 but stuggled to make an impact. Kendall was close to losing his job but somehow managed to turn the team around from a struggling side to the arguably the best side in Europe within just 18months. First of all he led Everton to their first major trophy success since the 1970 Championship by beating Watford in the 1984 FA Cup Final. From then on Everton grew as a team under Kendall and went on to win both the League Title and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1985, as well as losing in the 1985 FA Cup Final. He also led Everton to the 1987 League Title as well to further cement his place in history. However the question is still asked as to how far Kendall could have taken this Everton team had the ban on English clubs playing in Europe after the Heysel tragedy.

It was then that Kendall left to manage abroad, and fittingly the club he joined was Saturday's opponents Athletic Bilbao. Kendall had two and a half years there and is remembered fondly by the Basque's. However if people thought that was the end of Howard Kendall and Everton, they were wrong. Kendall returned to the club in 1990 with Everton hoping he could bring the glory days of the 80's back. He couldnt and after he felt the board were not giving him the backing he needed, he resiged. Only to return to the club in 1997 for a third and final time. This time it was far more miserable than his second reign as manager, with Everton narrowly avoiding relegation on the final day of the season.

On the pitch tomorrow there will be a short match lasting half an hour with some past Everton players taking on an Academy XI as a warm up to the main match. That match Kicks off at 1.30pm.

In the main match, which kicks off at 3pm, Evertonians will get the chance to see the first glimpses at Goodison Park of Andrew Johnson, Tim Howard and Joleon Lescott. Everton played Athletic Bilbao in August 2002 in the David Unsowrth testimonial, but lost the game 1-0 and were outplayed by the visitors. The Basque outfit, who are famed for their policy of only having players who were born in the Basque region playing for them, will prove a tough test for Everton and will make Everton work hard. They have some very good players who will cause Everton problems. The Spanish international Joesba Etxberria is a tricky winger, Yeste is a very clever forward and also Fernando Llorente, a young striker with an extremely bright future in the game.

So tomorrow Evertonians, both young and old, have a chance to say thank you and show their love and respect for one of the all time greats of a club that has had so many greats. To say thank you to a person that has done so much for this great club as both a player and a manager. To say thank you to a person who has helped Everton become the club it is today. It is a chance to say thank you to a legend.

Tickets cost just 15 pounds and are available on the gate.

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