But the attitude at the hotel beforehand… we played header tennis, the lads were very relaxed. "The pitch was awful… it was a bog. It was a pretty sad celebration, I've got to admit [Rideout held his arms aloft and blew a kiss to the crowd]. But when you score at Wembley, it's a special place. "Unfortunately for John Ebbrell - who'd played in most of the games to get us to that position but hadn't played in the semi-final - I had the terrible task of telling John he couldn't play. "But I had a good chat with the staff and decided 4-4-2 had got us there so we went with it.

"Overall, we beat three Premier League sides to get to the final and when we got to Wembley to train before the game, we knew what we wanted and we knew what we were going to do - just the one thing that had to be sorted out was telling them the team.
Having Man United just lose the league, this was their last chance to win silverware so the pressure was on them. It was that simple. Right at the front of the queue in front of Duncan Ferguson. Time has flown by, but you still remember the day vividly and it was a great day. It has been 25 years to the day since Everton, a Premier League ever-present, last won a major trophy. "For us to rock up to Elland Road and to see our fans dominate the outside of the stadium and for us to then go out and dominate 90 minutes was monumental, really. We were in the Royal Lancaster hotel on the Saturday night, and all our families were invited to the evening do. They were quickly marched back to my table…". "To score the winning goal, and to score it against Man United is even more special because they were a special team. When I got to the club the previous November, we were bottom of the table with just eight points from a third of the season. "We were up at 10.30am the next day to go back up to Merseyside for the open-top bus parade. I had a code with Les Helm, who was a great football physio who wasn't keen on all the earplugs and microphones, so we had a code. ","Dave Watson came back from everybody telling me he was finished, Neville was supposed to be finished, a young Dave Unsworth came on and got his first cap and so all round we were very close, believe me.

We'd both taken away an armful of VHS tapes and we both came up with the same thing the next day - 'soft touch'. We had special players like Anders Limpar who could change a game for you, so overall it was a well-connected group. It was such a big event then. The last time that Everton registered a victory over Liverpool in all competitions was in a 2-0 victory on October 17, 2010 at Goodison Park in the Premier League. In the end, the oddities of what cup football throws up, Matt Jackson scored with a left-foot half volley. ","I could be in and around Paul knowing that he'd be the focal point of attacks and I could pick up little bits and pieces off him. It's just mystifying for me. "That said, winning the FA Cup now compared to where it was, it's totally different. The next thing I knew, Danny substituted himself! "After that season, for me, I was on my way out anyway, but I was expecting them to push on after finishing sixth. ".You read correctly. "But in all fairness to Joe, it was a bit of a flyaway comment that the press picked up upon - and it's no disrespect in any way, shape or form - in fact it's a compliment because every side needs the right balance. "It wasn't just about me and Paul as we were well-drilled as a unit. We had a midfield who would do anything for you. You can sign in to give your opinion on the answer.Still have questions? ","Willie Donachie came in and did a fabulous job, and all we did was work as a group. There was a bit of a kerfuffle in the corner of the hotel and everybody surrounded this table to the sight of Duncan Ferguson in his kilt, lifting it up to the tune that was going on with the DJ at the time. ","Parky had terrible knee problems which would've stopped him playing for England. He was terrific that year.". "We were underdogs, but our hardest game and the one we looked most like losing was at Bristol City. "You don't get too many opportunities to do it, and when we played against Tottenham, we were relaxed because the pressure wasn't on us. ","I thought we were good on the day… it wasn't the glossy, flowing performance of the semi-final, but it certainly was a good performance against a top side. Duncan wasn't fit for the semis, but he was fit for the final and came on.". Everton - honours. "Until the semi-final, I wouldn't say we weren't interested, but it certainly wasn't a major thing on our mind. "We knew that if we gave out a good performance, then we would be close to winning the game. I just felt good about the day and obviously winning makes you remember everything about it, but to a certain extent the survival of Everton in the league was more important to us. It was a special time but the performance in the semi-final was far better than it was in the final.". It only really got serious about an hour before kick-off. "To then carry that onto Wembley and the icing on the cake was beating Man United in the final. It has been 25 years to the day since Everton, a Premier League ever-present, last won a major trophy.David Moyes' team of 2009 came close to ending the hoodoo but they were beaten in the FA Cup final at Wembley by Chelsea. There have been other near-misses, painful semi-final defeats to Manchester United and Liverpool in the same competition along the way.A quarter of a century on from the club's last success, Joe Royle, Graham Stuart and Paul Rideout reminisce about a memorable day down Wembley Way, where thanks to the Dogs of War mentality, Everton beat United to lift the FA Cup for the fifth time in their history..."The first thing I did when Willie Donachie [his assistant manager] and myself went in there was work on the defending.