Said somewhere before that 95-96 was and still is my favourite season as an Evertonain - we were brilliant... favourite player - Joe Parkinson. We missed out on Europe to Arsenal on the final day, remember listening for the scores on 5 live after seeing us beat Villa in the brand spanking new Park End! Royle had Torre Andre Flo lined up for £1m (ish) to play alongside Big Dunc (and another Norwegian bloke too) - Johnson blocked this, Royle was soon gone. Sure he had a deal for Dublin lined up previously too - £1m again!
I have shown a lot of gratitude to the Moyes era but what I will say is this season is the first, playing wise, which is matching up to that 95-96 season. Finishing 4th, euro runs and Wembley trips were all brilliant under Moyes but that 95-96 season still stands out for style and enjoyment of watching EFC.
Let's judge Martinez over the season though... he'd be the first to admit that he hasn't achieved anything yet. Moyes left him a fantastic platform on which Roberto is building on with style - he's 20 odd games into a 5 year plan!
Finally, James McCarthy reminds me so much of Joe Parkinson - Joe Parkinson could have gone so much further, no joke for people who didn't have the pleasure to watch him but he was in the Roy Keane bracket and on the brink of a first England cap for his career to be cruelly cut short.