Duncan Ferguson to be welcomed into Everton Giants hall of fame

EVERTON Giants.

As the name suggests, it’s a roll call of the most revered and respected names in Everton’s illustrious history.

Pre-War icons like Jack Sharp, Sam Chedgzoy, Dixie Dean and Ted Sagar.

The Prince of centre-halfs TG Jones, fifties idol Dave Hickson and legends like Alex Young, Bob Latchford, Neville Southall and Dave Watson – all looked over by the most successful manager the club has ever seen, Howard Kendall.

That group of Everton Originals were known as Millennium Giants – voted by a respected panel on the eve of the new century, and such was the success of the venture that a new name has been added every season since.

Hence the presence of 24 carat heroes on the list like Alan Ball, Ray Wilson, Kevin Ratcliffe, Joe Royle, Graeme Sharp, Peter Reid, Colin Harvey, Gordon West, Harry Catterick and last year, Trevor Steven.

Tomorrow night they will be joined by Duncan Ferguson.

Everton will not make any announcement until their Player of the Season awards at the BT Convention Centre tomorrow night.

But the Echo understands that Ferguson will be present to accept his induction into the most illustrious gallery of Evertonians ever assembled.

In two separate spells at Goodison, Ferguson made 273 appearances, scoring 72 goals – signing off with a goal in the dying seconds of his farewell appearance against West Bromwich Albion in 2006.

He was back at Goodison Park last weekend for a walk on part prior to the match with Manchester City and looked genuinely moved by the reception he received from Blues fans.

The entire Everton squad will be at the BT Convention Centre on the Waterfront, with full-back Leighton Baines the hot tip for the highlight of the evening, the Player of the Year prize.

Baines was controversially ignored by his peers in the PFA’s Premier League team of the year – PFA XI fixture Ashley Cole getting the nod.

It would be more difficult to explain if Baines is overlooked tomorrow.

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