DAVID UNSWORTH called an end to his career this week, and Evertonians reminisced affectionately about the man known as Rhino, for reasons that everyone suspects were slightly more laddish than the official “It’s because of his rampaging runs” line that his team-mates used to feed to interviewers along with a smirk.

He had something of an up and down Everton career, the chunky Chorleyite, but he never gave anything less than his best and does seem to still have a genuine affection for all things royal blue.

Who can ever forget the way he got mobbed when he tried to quietly watch a match from the stands?

The 1995 FA Cup final must have been one of his best games, when he bullied the supposedly indomitable Mark Hughes for 90 minutes, but he was never quite the same player after a bad injury and, sadly for him, he is often remembered as much for an encounter with Dennis Bergkamp and a bouncing ball as he is for the one with old Sparky at Wembley.

He experienced a bit of a renaissance when he eventually moved out to left-back though, and of course scored the first goal of the David Moyes era.

May things have worked out differently if Unsworth had scuffed his shot after only 27 seconds of that crucial game against Fulham?

Unsworth divided opinion and we seem adept at picking up those sorts of players, who puzzle the fans – Thomas Gravesen and Manuel Fernandes spring to mind in recent seasons.