As part of our continued look at Everton’s history I had a delve into the archives to find a Premier League rarity – an Everton win over Manchester United – and one of the moments Duncan Ferguson will always be remembered for.

Seventeen years ago this coming Saturday - February 25 - Manchester United arrived at Goodison Park entrenched in a title battle with Kenny Dalglish’s big spending Blackburn Rovers.

Alex Ferguson’s men – double winners the previous year - had also reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup thanks to a 3-1 win over Leeds United six days earlier. Everton had also booked their place in the last eight with a thumping 5-0 victory over Norwich.

But with the league back on the agenda it was the battle against relegation that was at the forefront of Everton’s mind as they took to a muddy Goodison pitch that had clearly suffered through the harsh winter.

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An Everton Classics section would not be complete without a look back at the club’s most famous centre forward. A player who casts a shadow on every number nine that has worn the royal blue shirt since and will continue to do so for as long as the club exists. I am, of course, talking about the legend that is William Ralph ‘Dixie’ Dean.

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Everton FC Classics is finally back up and running after a unintentional hiatus (all my fault I admit) but what a way to announce a return then a look back at one of the – if not the – greatest Everton goalkeeper of all time. Mr Neville Southall.

I remember one my friends scoffing when I said that for a spell in the late 80s and early 90s Neville Southall was the best goalkeeper in the world. He thought it was a case of me once again refusing to remove those royal blue spectacles.

And while I admit my judgement is clouded by my love for Everton at times, I was not going to let this one go. Even though I was restricted to watching the relative twilight of his illustrious career there is no doubt in my – and most Evertonians minds – that he was the greatest. And a few clips of pundits, commentators and players alike saying the same thing finally made my mate come round.

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On Tuesday Everton plays host to Manchester City, and we hear at Royal Blue Mersey got a chance to speak with Bitter and Blue, the SB Nation site that covers all things City. Danny took some time out of his day to answer a few questions ahead of the match. Read his answers below, and make sure to check out Bitter and Blue for all things Manchester City. Enjoy the ans

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March 14^th, 2002, is a date that all Evertonians will remember, it is the day that David Moyes joined what he termed the People’s Club, and ever since the club has enjoyed a level of stability not seen since the 80’s. Though the club has yet to pick up any silverware in the new century, the Toffees consistently contend for a place in Europe, and have been the smallest club to qualify for the Champions League this decade.

                When David Moyes took over for fellow Scotsman Walter Smith, Everton were sitting dangerously close to relegation, and his first objective was to secure a spot in next year’s Premier League, something he did through a fantastic run of form to close out the season. The following season saw the introduction of a youngster by the name of Wayne Rooney, who managed to light up the Premier League, and most observers knew it was only a matter of time before he would be moving on to bigger and better clubs than Everton at that point. Rooney helped secure a seventh place finish in his first full season for Everton, and hopes were high entering the 03/04 season.  Unfortunately those hopes were not met as the team finished 17^th with their lowest ever points total of 39 points on the season.

The summer of 2004 was one of the most trying under Moyes tenure, as young star Rooney was sold to Manchester United, but Moyes plowed ahead and brought in several players who would become crucial components in the coming season. These players included Australian Tim Cahill, Kevin Kilbane, and James McFadden. The season that followed became one of those magical seasons that fans still talk about in hushed tones, almost as if it is impossible to believe the season didn’t even happen.  The Toffees charged out of the gate and never looked back, and when the dust settled they had managed to finish fourth, and qualify for the Champions League. Perhaps the greatest game of the season came on a date all Evertonians remember, April 20, 2005. Before an absolutely buzzing Goodison Park, the Toffees took on Manchester United in a game where three points would all but ensure Champions League qualification, and Duncan Ferguson delivered those three points off a brilliant diving header. Listening to the crowd that day it seemed as if my television was going to fall off the table.

As great as that season was, the following campaign was a bit of a disaster with Everton failing to really get off the ground, and the squad managed to finish a disappointing 11^th, and was bounced out of the Champions League in the qualifying round. The next few seasons were when David Moyes truly moved into another level of managing as he managed to turn Everton into a consistent midtable finish with the team finishing 6^th, 5^th, and 5^th again in the following three seasons while also advancing to the FA Cup final against Chelsea, where they lost 2-1. They followed this up with a slightly disappointing 8th place finish, before moving up one spot into seventh for the 2010/2011 season.

Unfortunately for Evertonians, on the field success has been met by some unfortunate news of the field. A disconcerting trend has emerged ever since Wayne Rooney was sold where Everton has been unable to hang on to their more talented players, and are forced to sell to the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City. David Moyes has expressed his frustration multiple times when he has been forced to sell players in order to bring in new players during the transfer window. This has led to Evertonians spending July and August biting their fingernails in the hope that none of our top players will be lured away from Goodison with the idea of bigger wages.

This past summer may have been to hardest for Everton, with Mikel Arteta and Jermaine Beckford departing in a somewhat shocking fashion, while Yakubu finally made a long anticipated move to Blackburn. These moves appear to have been made to appease the banks, but we will not know until January if Moyes has any transfer money to spend from these sales.

In addition to these issues involving transfer funds, decisions at the executive level have made fans even more wary, with a rising debt level of 40 million pounds plus that while not as big as some clubs, is definitely a cause for concern. In addition to the debt, many fans have begun calling for the ouster of Chairman Bill Kenwright who has left the club up for sale for several years now, yet has been unable to secure a buyer. Although the chairman still has some support with the fans, it is obvious that he and the board are not running the business side of the club in an effective manner. Without a doubt the next few years may determine the fate of Everton for better or for worse.

Continuing our look back at the history of Everton FC we focus on the turn of the century, with Walter Smith in the manager’s hot seat and a new chairman at the helm....

Smith’s small but talented squad produced some memorable performances in the 1999/2000 season, raising hopes of a European place. This was both through a league finish and a run to Wembley as the Blues reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. With first division Bolton lying in wait in the semi-final the fans sensed a run all the way to the final.

But a nightmare start at home against Aston Villa saw them go a goal down after barely five minutes and despite American Joe-Max Moore’s equaliser, Benito Carbone’s finish in first-half stoppage time was enough to send the Midlands side through. They would go on and reach the final, losing to Chelsea at Wembley.

Sadly, injuries began to catch up with the squad in the tail end of the season and a final finish of 13th, despite being in the top ten for much of the year, was disappointing. However, the nucleus of a good squad was there and a few key additions could give us the platform to push on.

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"Part 2 coming soon!"

I said optimistically – six months ago.

For one reason or another Everton: Classics has been on ice for a while. But with a new season comes new motivation to revisit Everton’s history.

So, without further ado we will concentrate on the second half on the 1990s. Picking up where we left off at the start of the 1994/95 season…

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With the storm still swirling across the online Everton community following the release of Everton’s accounts I thought I would resurrect this feature looking at Everton’s glorious past. The previous account covered the silver laden 1980s. The 1990s – the decade where I started to support Everton – would be vastly different

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