Everton legend Colin Harvey believes Dixie Dean and Alan Ball are the two greatest players in the history of the club.
Harvey featured alongside Ball and Howard Kendall to form the Holy Trinity midfield that won the FA Cup in 1966 and First Division title four years later under Harry Catterick.
Everton dedicated a statue to the trio outside Goodison Park last year and the 75-year-old believes he and Kendall were no match for the abilities of Ball.
"You have two ways when a player joins," Harvey told the ECHO. "You either put your head down and say he's taking my place and have a sulk about it or you work that bit harder to be as good as Bally.
"Obviously nobody ever was as good as him but it raised your game anyway, by the fact that if you wanted to be as good as Alan Ball, you were going to be one of the best players ever.
"I always say there are two Everton greats. One I didn't see so I have to take my granddad's word for it. That was Dixie Dean, and you only have to look at his goalscoring record. He scored nearly a goal every game he played in.
"To do that, no matter what era you play in, makes you a true Everton great, and I played with the other one, Alan Ball. There have been a lot of good players but those two have been the all-time greats for me."
Harvey admitted 'all his dreams came true' when Everton erected the statue in honour of the Holy Trinity and hopes to watch his boyhood club challenge for future titles with Carlo Ancelotti as manager.
"You start as a kid in the boys pen, always hoping you were going to be an Everton player, and that turns out," he said.
"You're then hoping you'll win a cup or win the league, and both of them turned out. You never think about the fact there could be a statue raised of you. It's unthinkable.
"Maybe Alan Ball and Dixie Dean would get statues, because they are the two greatest Everton players of all time, but to be put in that category is amazing. I was an Evertonian as a kid and all my dreams came true.
"Going to Everton as a kid, then winning a cup, winning the league and getting a statue, it's real Boys Own stuff, isn't it?"
Harvey added: "They were fantastic times playing with fantastic players but that was my time and now it is time for others.
"Hopefully the new signings, particularly in midfield, kick us on to a new era to a position where we are in the running to win trophies, particularly the league.
"The ultimate goal of any club is to win the title. You can have a bit of luck to win a cup but to win the title you have to be the best team. We are on the way."
