Three years on, they are still in the Premiership, but have played some of the most unremarkable football ever seen at this level and have frustrated fans who have spent the last five seasons living in fear of relegation.

The 2000–01 season saw a major step back for Everton and the club once again fell into a relegation battle, not helped by long-term injuries to several key players.

Even the arrival of Paul Gascoigne made little difference to the side, with the iconic Geordie performing like a thin shadow of his former self.

In the early stages the club had looked to be heading for another season of mid-table safety, but a terrible run of form in December and January plunged them into a relegation battle that they remained embroiled in for the rest of the season, ultimately not securing safety until they beat already-relegated Bradford City in their third-to-last match.

Everton expected to announce a deal before the beginning of the 2000–01 season,[1] but by October 2000 any chance of an agreement had disappeared leaving Everton with financial difficulties and forced to sell first team players, including Youth Academy products Francis Jeffers and Michael Ball, to balance the books – the board had already spent £18.4 million on purchasing new players including bringing back Duncan Ferguson, on the basis that an agreement was in place.