Everton began the season with three new signings –
Slaven Bilić,
John Oster and
Gareth Farrelly – but the big news at
Goodison Park was the return of
Howard Kendall for his third spell as manager. With financial problems growing and fans growing ever more hostile towards chairman
Peter Johnson and with legendary goalkeeper
Neville Southall leaving the club in March 1998 after 17 years, Kendall was soon facing the biggest struggle of his managerial career. Everton – top division members continuously since 1954 – were battling against relegation and looked anything but a trophy-winning team that they so often had been during Kendall's earlier spells. They ended up surviving, but only avoided relegation to
Division One because they had a greater goal difference than 18th-placed
Bolton Wanderers. That kept Everton up, but Kendall resigned just weeks later and was replaced by former
Rangers manager
Walter Smith. ==Final league table==