1987/88 was a transitional season for Everton, with less success than they were used to. Howard Kendall mercilessly raided his old club, signing Lineker and Steven for a massive combined fee of £6.5M. With Peter Reid losing his effectiveness due to a combination of age and injuries Alex Ferguson was thus compelled to try to replace three Everton legends. He first moved to strenghten the defence, signing Norwich City's centre hald, Dave Watson. It was believed that he also wished to sign Watson's partner, Steve Bruce, but nothing came of this supposed move. He similarly failed to persuade Ron Atkinson to sell Ian Rush, though the striker was believed to be ready to leave Manchester United to join the club he had supported as a boy. However, with the likes of Ratcliffe, Van Den Hauwe, Stevens, Bracewell, Beardsley,McMahon, Sheedy and most of all Southall still there, Everton were still the team to beat, and by the season's end they had won the League Cup, were third in the league to Manchester United and Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest, and had reached the final of the European Cup-Winners Cup, losing 3 - 2 to Ajax.
To be continued.