Duncan ferguson - 1994 - 1998 & 2000 - 2006:

Originally signed on a months loan by Mike Walker in October 1994 Duncan Ferguson made the move permanent a month later when Joe Royle, the new Everton manager, paid Glasgow Rangers £4m for his services.

His impact was immediate and on his official debut helped Joe Royle to get off to a winning start, scoring a towering header in a 2-0 win over Liverpool at Goodison Park. In all he ended the season with eight goals in just 23 games and helped the side to the FA Cup final, picking up a winners medal against Manchester United.

The 1995-96 season was a near write off as the big Scot was sent to prison for a head butt on a Raith Rovers player in April 1994. When he was released the Scottish FA insisted he serve a 12 match ban for the same incident, Ferguson's response was to inform them that he would no longer be available for selection at International level, a decision he never reversed.

Despite injuries and suspensions Ferguson was inspirational as the team avoiding relegation in the next two seasons. The club was lurching from one disaster to another and this was typified by the farcical search for a successor for Joe Royle in the summer of 1997. Howard Kendall was eventually appointed manager and by Christmas he had handed the team captaincy to Ferguson and his talismatic leadership was one of the reasons Everton remained in the top flight.

Kendall was sacked at the end of the season and Walter Smith took over, new players were brought in and Ferguson remained as captain, but everything did not go to plan. Everton were in debt and in order to appease the bankers the then chairman Peter Johnson sold Ferguson to Newcastle United for £8m. behind his manager's back. An act that was to be the being of the end for Johnson and he soon stood down as chairman.

After 18 months away he returned to the club when he was signed for £3.75m by Bill Kenwright and Walter Smith but his second spell with the club got off to a dreadful start, he was injured in only his second game. The rest of the season saw Ferguson in and out of the side through a injury with him only managing 13 games and six goals.

The next three seasons saw him out of the side more than he was in, due to various injuries and it was only when the problem was diagnosed as a compressed sciatic nerve that he could possibly start to get himself fit. It was all too little to late and during his second spell with the club he only managed 52 league starts in the six seasons, he did make a further 70 appearances as substitute. His effectiveness from the bench was best illustrated during the 2004-05 season, as Everton qualified for the Champions League, with the goals and assists he had a hand in earned the team enough points to finish fourth.

The 2005-06 season was to be his last with the club and again he was used mainly as a substitute but this time to no avail. Ferguson had to wait until nearly the last minute of the last game of the season to score his only goal, a rebound after he had a penalty saved.

After the game the players showed their appreciation of the fans as usual but one man was on his own. Duncan Ferguson followed some way behind with his children and the crowd seemed to know that this was to be the last time we would see the Big Man in an Everton shirt. People will always have an opinion regarded Ferguson, good and bad, but one thing he did for Everton was to give the fans a focus, a talisman, during the mid nineties when there was nothing to excite even the most ardent of Evertonian

Everton playing record :

League appearances 162(76) , goals 60

FA Cup appearances 14(2), goals 7

League Cup appearances 13(1), goals 5

European appearances 2(2), goals 0