faltered in the New Year. When promotion was missed initially by one point on the last day of the season after a 3–2 defeat against Ipswich Town and then through play-off defeat to Middlesbrough, McCall left the club, signing for Everton for £850,000 in June 1988. He had played 238 league games for the club, scoring 37 goals, and in total played 285 games, scoring 46 goals. McCall was later outspoken in his autobiography, The Real McCall, about City's failure to strengthen the side to secure promotion. His departure was soured when he was forced to go to the Football League with a Professional Footballers' Association representative to win £8,327.15 of an unpaid signing-on fee. Everton McCall joined Everton at a time when its former triumphant side of the mid-1980s had broken up, following the ban on English sides competing in Europe, which marked the start of a period of underachievement at Goodison Park. His Everton debut came in a 4–0 victory over Newcastle United on 27 August 1988 against his former teammate Hendrie, who was making his debut for Newcastle. McCall also returned to Valley Parade for a League Cup tie, but his Everton side were knocked out by Bradford 3–1 on 14 December 1988. He started 29 league games in 1988–89 as well as another four substitute appearances, but failed to score in the league. He was also a substitute in the 1989 FA Cup Final when he scored Everton's stoppage time equaliser in the Merseyside derby against Liverpool to take the game into extra-time. He scored another equaliser during extra-time, but Liverpool's own substitute Ian Rush also scored two to secure a 3–2 victory for Liverpool. McCall made a second appearance in an Everton shirt at Valley Parade, when he was invited by former teammate Mark Ellis to bring a side for his testimonial. In three seasons at Everton, McCall played 103 league games as well as earned his first caps with Scotland but he failed to lift any trophies as the club finished eighth, sixth and ninth in the league. Apart from the FA Cup final defeat in 1989, the closest he came to winning a trophy at Everton was in the 1989–90 season, when Everton topped the league in late autumn and remained in contention for the title for the most the rest of the season until disappointing form in the run-in saw them finish