At the end of Harry Catterick's first full season (1961-62), Everton finished fourth in Division One but, significantly, The Toffees boasted the best defensive record, and the following season the team lost just six of their 42 matches and won the title by six points.

Roy Vernon scored 24 league goals and Alex Young got 22 (in no season since have Everton had two players score more than 20 league goals) as the team clinched the Championship in true 'School of Science' style.

The scenes that followed the title-confirming win over Fulham at Goodison in May 1963 were reminiscent of that day in 1928 when Dixie had bagged his 60th goal!

Everton were now a team to be feared, although the following season's assault on the European Cup floundered at the first round stage to Inter Milan - with the 2nd leg in the San Siro marking the debut of an 18-year old player destined to become another Goodison Great...Colin Harvey.

The mid-60s was a boom-time for English football, reaching its zenith of course in the summer of 1966, and that particularly golden year was also one for Evertonians to enjoy at club level.

Sunderland, Bedford Town, Coventry City, and the two Manchester clubs were all beaten during a glorious FA Cup run that carried Everton through to a Wembley final meeting with Sheffield Wednesday.

The match still rates as one of the best Cup Finals ever seen at Wembley.

The Yorkshire side, whom Everton had beaten 5-1 in the League earlier in the season, raced into a 2-0 lead and the Blue dream looked shattered until a most unlikely hero took centre-stage.

The hitherto unheralded Cornishman, Mike Trebilcock, hadn't even been mentioned in the official match programme but he scored twice to level the score, and then Derek Temple grabbed the most dramatic of winning goals.

The win gave Ray Wilson a unique achievement - the only Englishman to win the FA Cup and the World Cup in the same season.

Unfortunately though, the following season's European Cup Winners' Cup campaign didn't last long as Everton bowed out to Real Zaragoza in the 2nd Round.

The love affair with the FA Cup reared its head once again in 1968, but Everton were below par at Wembley and a Jeff Astle goal gave West Brom a 1-0 final success.

Harry Catterick knew that he still had players of supreme quality at his disposal - Kendall, Harvey, Ball, Royle, Labone, Hurst, West - and, sure enough, in 1969-70 it all came together in one glorious Championship campaign.

Joe Royle top scored with 23 goals and Everton were a full nine points clear of Leeds United at the end of the season. Consistency was the key to the success. Royle, Wright, West and Hurst were all ever-present, Morrisey missed just one match and Ball missed five.

All Evertonians prepared themselves for a decade of continued strength and triumph, but it just never happened.

The 70s was a dismal period for the club - the 69-70 side broke up far too quickly and a solitary League Cup Final appearance in 1976-77 was the closest Everton came to silverware.

Everton drew 0-0 with Aston Villa at Wembley, 1-1 at Hillsborough in the replay, and then lost 2-3 in the third match at Old Trafford.

The Blues should also have been in the FA Cup final that season but a disallowed goal in the last minute of their semi-final match with Liverpool with the score at 2-2 dashed their dreams. The referee, Clive Thomas, has never offered a full explanation...nor has he ever been forgiven.

One highlight of the era was the emergence of Bob Latchford as the latest centre-forward to be revered by the Evertonians. Signed in a club-record deal in 1974 he was a natural-born goal-getter and his most prolific campaign saw him plunder 30 league goals during the 1977-78 season.

A former Everton player, Billy Bingham had succeeded Harry Catterick in the Goodison hot-seat in April 1973, but despite some fine top-six finishes he was replaced himself by Gordon Lee in January 1977.

Under Lee, Everton finished third in the table in 1977-78 and fourth the following season.

Good statistics, but that was as good as it got though for the former Newcastle boss and after successive finishes of 19th and 15th, he was dismissed in 1981 and another former Everton player was drafted in.

Howard Kendall's return to Goodison was welcomed by the fans...but they could scarcely have believed what was around the corner.