Club Connections - Everton

Of course on Saturday, Manchester United face a tricky away game at Everton, looking to bonce back after the dissapointment that was last weekend's Manchester Derby. With that in mind it’s worth looking at 8 individuals who have both spent time at United and Everton in their careers in the game.

Peter Beardsley

There are not too many players who have played for both Merseyside and Manchester clubs but Beardsley is one of them. It’s easy to forget that arguably one of the best wingers in English football, played just the once for United in 1982 after signing from Canadian side Vancouver Whitecaps.

Surprisingly Ron Atkinson failed to see Peter's talent and his time at Old Trafford was cut short as he would return back to Vancouver. After that the rest is history as Peter signed for Newcastle United in 1983 before becoming a household name on Merseyside and for England. He would enjoy a brief loan spell with Manchester City in the twilight of his career.

Jesper Blomqvist

A good pub-quiz question these days is who was the Swedish World Cup star who played a supporting role in United’s historic treble-winning season back in 1999? The answer to that question is Blomqvist who signed in the summer of 1998 from Italian side Parma.

The quick-silver winger’s form was outstanding in that historic season with Jesper at times playing so well that Ryan Giggs at times was kept out of the team. Sadly he never recovered from ongoing knee problems and after two seasons out joined Everton but just couldn’t ever regain his fitness or from through no fault of his own.

Tim Howard

When you speak to United fans about Howard, they all say that he was incredibly unlucky at Old Trafford. He was surprisingly signed in the summer of 2003 and immediately became the club’s first choice keeper. He had a fantastic first-half to the season and looked in fine form.

Sadly Tim never recovered from making a high-profile error against Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto in the Champions League and lost his place to Roy Carroll. He now looked a nervous keeper and after being back-up to Edwin Van der Sar moved onto Everton innitialy on-loan where he has since shown the form that showed how good a goalie he is.

Andrei Kanchelskis

The only man to score in each of the Glasgow, Manchester and Merseyside derbies, Russian winger Kanchelskis was one of the first foreign players to take the Premier League by storm. His excellent dribbling and shooting abilities made him one of the first names on the United team-sheet.

Sadly in his final season in 1994/95 he fell out with Sir Alex Ferguson and despite being the club’s top goal-scorer left to join Everton. He top-scored for the Toffees in his only full season before moving onto Fiorentina the following season. Andrei is now manager of FC UFA in Russia’s second division.

Phil Neville

A member of United’s historic treble-winning side in 1999, Neville just like his brother Gary will always be remembered at Old Trafford. Despite making 386 appearances for the club sadly for some strange reason football fans up and down the country believed that he was overrated.

Maybe it was because of the mistake he made whilst England duty that cost the nation a quarter final place in Euro 2000, but it’s only since Phil made the brave decision to leave Old Trafford in 2005 to Goodison Park that people have begun to see what a great player he is. In a way that’s a shame but that’s football for you.

Louis Saha

Very few people would argue the fact that when fit there are few better strikers in the Premier League than Saha. He has pace, flair, a powerful shot and a knack of scoring a variety of goals regularly. It’s just that injuries have held back his career which is rather sad to see.

After a stint at Newcastle, Louis adapted to the English game well at Fulham before making a big-money £12.6 move to United in January 2004. Sadly despite scoring more often than not, he was always prone to niggling injuries and left Old Trafford in 2008 to join Everton where this problem has reoccured on a regular basis much to the striker's frustration.

Mickey Thomas

After making his name as a youngster in a talented Wrexham side, Thomas joined United in 1978 after being signed by Dave Sexton and despite not being the most reliable of wingers, his commitment and hunger helped win over supporters.

When Ron Atkinson replaced Sexton in the summer of 1981, he was sold to Everton as part of a a deal that saw John Gidman move the other way. After winning the old second division at Chelsea, Mickey moved to West Brom suffering relegation. He signed for Stoke in 1990 but after a season returned to Wrexham before a counterfeit scam ended his career in 1993.

Norman Whiteside

Few young talents have been celebrated as much as Whiteside has in the game. After being touted as an outstanding youngster, he rose through the ranks making his first-team debut for United at Brighton in 1981 two weeks before his 17th birthday.

Norman impressed everyone and at the end of his first season appeared for Northern Ireland in the 1982 World Cup. He looked destined for greatness but struggled with injuries and retired at the age of 26 after three years at Everton who he scored a memorable winner against for United in 1985’s FA Cup Final, that is still highly spoken about today.

Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87