play-offs he handed in a transfer request. Angell switched to Southend United, who had won promotion into the Third Division after finishing one point and one place ahead of County. Stockport wanted £250,000 for the player, but Southend only offered £15,000 – a Football League tribunal later set the fee at £100,000, though Stockport had to pay Derby £19,500 as part of an agreed sell-on clause. He formed an effective partnership with target-man Ian Benjamin and became joint-top scorer in the Third Division in 1990–91, as he and Bolton's Tony Philliskirk scored 26 goals. The "Shrimpers" won promotion as the Third Division's runners-up, finishing one point behind champions Cambridge United and two points ahead of fourth placed Bolton. Southend settled into the Second Division, finishing in the top-half of the table in 1991–92, and Angell again finished as the club's top scorer with 23 goals and was named as the club's Player of the Year. The Roots Hall faithful continued to witness second-tier football in 1993–94, however Angell attracted interest from bigger clubs, and joined top-flight Everton on loan in September 1993 and again in January 1994. Despite Angell playing just one game in each spell, manager Mike Walker signed him for a fee of £500,000 on 21 January (£160,000 of this went to Stockport as part of a tribunal agreement made four years earlier). However Angell had just undergone major surgery on his left leg and was unable to play to his full potential so it proved to be a disastrous spell, his only goal in nineteen games for the "Toffees" being a tap-in against Chelsea. Neville Southall later said that "the step up to the Premier League was probably too much for him" and he "had a first touch like a tackle". Manager Joe Royle sold Angell to Sunderland for £600,000 in March 1995, where he was similarly unsuccessful. He played eleven games for the "Black Cats", scoring once in the League Cup at Preston. Manager Mick Buxton was sacked shortly after Angell arrived at the club, and he failed to impress new boss Peter Reid. He is widely regarded by fans of both Everton and Sunderland as one of the worst players to turn out for both of these clubs, where he failed to reproduce the form he showed in the lower divisions. He was loaned out to First Division Sheffield United in January 1996, where he