20 For 20: Dunc's Royle Show

A first goal for Ferguson, a first win for his new manager.

In a bid to discover the Club's most memorable games of the Premier League's 20 seasons, we asked fans to vote in an exclusive poll on evertonfc.com. Today, we remember the afternoon Blues fans welcomed back an old hero - and left saluting a new one...

EVERTON 2-0 Liverpool, 21 November 1994
(Ferguson 56, Rideout 89)
Att: 39,866

A more perfect start to life as Everton manager Joe Royle could not have wished for.

A hero at Goodison Park in his playing days, Royle walked back through the door earlier this month and discovered a very different club to the one he once knew.

His were the days of the so-called 'School of Science', of Harvey, Ball and Kendall. Of league championship wins, FA Cup successes; of expectation and belief.

What, two decades on, he met on his return to Everton's Bellefield training ground was a disheartened crew with the weight of 21 Premiership teams looming heavily above them in the table.

This was a bunch who last season required a final-day miracle to retain the top-flight status of which the club has rightly been so proud since 1954. A bunch who even after this most unexpected of derby victories remain steeped in the mire.

Everton welcomed their fourth-placed neighbours across Stanley Park on a terrible run. 16 games, nine defeats, fives draws, just one win. The reading wasn't pleasant and Mike Walker paid with his job less than 11 months after taking charge.

Duncan Ferguson climbs above the Liverpool defence to net his first Everton goal

Nobody will be fooled into believing the Blues have turned the corner just yet. But this was a start.

Royle commenced his reign by making three changes to the side which drew 0-0 at Norwich in the game which proved Walker's last.

In came Andy Hinchcliffe, John Ebbrell and Daniel Amokachi. Out went David Burrows, Graham Stuart and Paul Rideout.

After a nervy first hour, it was one of the returning faces, Hinchcliffe, who laid on Everton's opener.

In went the defender's corner towards a crowded Liverpool box and there was Duncan Ferguson, the loanee from Rangers, to notch his first goal for the club with a towering header. A good way to get off the mark.

Rideout, on as a half-time substitute for Matt Jackson - a brave but admirable signal of Royle's attacking intent - may then have doubled the lead, only to see his rasping low drive cannon back off the post.

The striker wouldn't be denied in the final minute however, and again Ferguson was involved. This time the Scot's presence caused David James to flap and there was Rideout, sliding in at the back post to guide the ball home through the legs of Phil Babb.

Much work still lies ahead for Everton. But, on this evidence at least, their Royle appointment may just prove inspired.
 

Everton                        Southall                                  Jackson (Rideout 46)             Watson                                   Unsworth                               Ablett                                    Ebbrell Horne  Parkinson                              Hinchcliffe   Amokachi (Limpar 77)    Ferguson                                Manager: Joe Royle

Liverpool James Jones Babb Scales Ruddock Bjornebye (Redknapp 63) McManaman Molby Barnes Fowler Rush Manager: Roy Evans

"It was an occasion to behold and the support was fantastic. It couldn't have been better." – Joe Royle

"It really was a great feeling to see the ball hit the net because I knew it would give the team a lift. I really enjoyed the atmosphere. Everton's fans were a different class." - Duncan Ferguson

"Apart from one I got for Bari in Italy, that was my first derby goal. It was a wonderful feeling to score because, coming so late, I knew it had ensure the three points." – Paul Rideout

"It was a novel experience for me because my other derbies were with Bournemouth against Brighton and Wigan versus Bolton." - Joe Parkinson

Daniel Amokachi tries his luck

• Disney's The Lion King draws record numbers to the cinema to become the highest-grossing hand-drawn film of all time.
• Michael Schumacher wins his first Formula One World Championship despite crashing out of the Australian Grand Prix.
• The first passengers travel through the Channel Tunnel.
• WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides the world's first internet radio broadcast.
• George Foreman knocks out Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
• Former US president Ronald Reagan announces he has Alzheimer's disease.
  

• Joe Royle's flying start to life as manager continued as Everton won each of their next two games.
• He would go on to steer the Club clear of relegation, the Blues eventually finishing 15th, four places and five points above the dropzone.
• Royle also led his side to the FA Cup final where they stunned Manchester United to win Everton’s first major silverware in eight years.
  

For a full 1994/95 fixture list, click here.