With the advent of the Bosman ruling during the 1995/96 season – allowing the freedom of movement for out of contract players – for a period it looked as though Celtic’s elegant midfielder, John Collins, might become Everton’s first Bosman ‘free’ at the end of that season.  In the event he plumped for AS Monaco, but Goodison only had to wait a further two years to see Collins pull on an Everton shirt – signed, as he was, for £2.5 million in July 1998.

He arrived on Merseyside having played at the World Cup in France that summer – he drilled home a penalty against holders Brazil in the tournament’s opening match – and with his reputation enhanced after two years in the French league, the first of which saw him lift Ligue 1. A small, tough midfielder, cultured and skilful, it was hoped that Collins would be the creative lynchpin of a team bolstered by several expensive summer signings.

On his debut, at home to Aston Villa, he missed a penalty – a dark hint of the disappointments which were to follow.  Put simply, Collins didn’t look up to the pace of the Premiership and often seemed ponderous on the ball, with an infuriating propensity to get caught in possession. His play lacked incisiveness and he usually preferred a safe sideways ball than anything more penetrative. At Christmas 1998, he revealed he had been playing since the World Cup with a broken toe and when that was operated upon in the New Year he missed the remainder of the season.

Hopes that this had held him back dissipated when he returned at the start of the 1999/2000 season without a discernable upturn in form, and it was only the following Spring, when he claimed the captain’s armband from Don Hutchison that Goodison saw him at his best. Suddenly he seemed galvanised and in the closing stages of the season hinted at the calibre of player Evertonians thought had arrived two years earlier.

Despite reaffirming his commitment to Everton, with the appointment of former Monaco manager, Jean Tigana, as Fulham boss, Collins suddenly got itchy feet, and after agitating for a move left for Craven Cottage for £2.5 million that summer.  He helped Fulham to promotion to the Premiership in the 2000/01 season, but seemed no more able to stamp his authority on the top flight with them as he had with Everton. When his contract expired in 2003 he retired from playing, aged 35, later turning to management with Hibernian.