In training, I faced the Everton hero and was concerned when he joined; nonetheless, he ultimately saved the team.

Back in 1999, Kevin Campbell’s goals steered Everton to safety as the striker finished the club’s top scorer despite only netting for the first time on April 11.

Back when transfer deadline day didn’t arrive until March, the former Arsenal and Nottingham Forest striker returned to English football after a bizarre fall-out at his Turkish side Trabzonspor in Campbell had been described as “a discoloured cannibal” by club president Mehmet Ali Yilmaz. However, the Black Sea coast outfit’s loss proved to be the Blues’ gain as, after defeats to Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday in his first two matches, the Londoner netted an incredible nine goals in a five-game purple patch to keep Walter Smith’s men in the Premier League.

Starting with a brace in a 2-0 home win over Coventry City on April 11, it was 25 years ago today that Campbell really turned the tide for a struggling Everton team as another double inspired a 3-1 win at Newcastle United. The 29-year-old had inherited the famous number nine jersey at the club from Duncan Ferguson who had been controversially sold to the Magpies earlier in the season with transfer negotiations taking place behind the scenes as the two clubs faced each other at Goodison Park with Michael Ball’s penalty giving the Blues a 1-0 victory on November 23.

On the day of Everton’s visit to St James’ Park for the return fixture, Ferguson hit out at owner Peter Johnson’s decision to sell him for £8million. The Scot said: “From the club’s point of view, it was a bad idea to sell me because they never got the money from the deal to rebuild.

“Maybe me going would have been a good thing for the club if they could have used the money to get two or three quality players in as a springboard to strengthen the team – but that never happened.

“I was happy at Everton, I remember reading someone saying the only thing loyal in football is a dog. Well I must have been a dog, because I was loyal to Everton and still got sold.”

Ferguson missed the game against his former club but a couple of other centre-forwards were at the heart of proceedings. Campbell fired the Blues in front after just 42 seconds but Ruud Gullit’s side had the chance to draw level on 31 minutes only for Alan Shearer – the Premier League’s all-time top scorer who also went on to become the competition’s most-prolific penalty taker, netting some 55 times – to have his high effort from the spot saved by Thomas Myhre.

Campbell doubled Everton’s advantage just before half-time and although Shearer did reduce arrears on 82 minutes with his second penalty of the afternoon, Campbell’s ex-City Ground team-mate Scot Gemmill, who had also made his Blues debut at Anfield a fortnight earlier, netted a couple of minutes from the end. Writing in the ECHO, David Prentice said: “Everton pulled off a gargantuan result in Tyneside, a result of awesome importance, and a result which places their Premiership future firmly in their own hands again.

“Just two games ago, the average Evertonian wouldn’t have trusted those hands to safely hold on to a glass of lager, let alone 45 years of top flight tradition. But the first back-to-back wins in the Premiership since November have reignited the belief that the Blues will survive.”