TOMMY Lawton was just 17 when he set out for Goodison Park on New Year's Day 1937 after his record transfer from Burnley to Everton.
The Merseyside team had laid out �6,500 – the highest sum then ever paid for a player aged under 21 – to secure the signature of a hugely promising centre-forward, who had scored 16 goals in 25 league games.
As he boarded a tram to take him to the ground, the conductor asked: "Aren't you that Tommy Lawton?"
Tommy, pleased to be recognised, confirmed he was.
Quick as a flash the conductor replied: "Well, you'll never be as good as Dixie Dean."
Having delivered that put-down, the conductor rang the bell to stop the tram and gestured to Tommy: "You'll find the Everton School of Science at the top of the road."
The story of how Lawton went on to become one of England's greatest strikers is told in a brilliant book by Barrie Williams and Tom Lawton Junior.
It is aptly titled Get In There, the phrase Lawton would famously shout as the ball hit the back of net from one his bullet headers.
But when Tommy first met the Everton players, one man was missing.
The man he had idolised since he was a young schoolboy, the man he had always wanted to be in the make-believe contests on the cobbled streets of Bolton, the man worshipped by millions of football fans all over England.
"Where's Dixie?", Tommy asked.
The door behind him flew open, knocking him off balance.
"I'm here," said Dixie Dean. "And my name's not Dixie. It's William Dean. But you can call me Bill."
Dean then put an arm around Tommy's shoulders, took him to one side of the room, looked him straight in the eyes and told him: "They've bought you to take my place, you know."
Tommy stuttered a genuine protest: "Oh no sir, I mean Dixie, I mean Bill. No. No they haven't. I could never...."
Dean interrupted. "Don't be daft. Of course they have. Why do you think they paid all that money for you?"
And the great man continued: "Look lad, anything I can do to help you, I will."
Dean kept his promise, helping Tommy turn from the young pretender to a complete player capable of taking over from the King of Goodison.
Dean became Lawton's mentor, seeing so much of himself in young Tommy: a poor, working-class kid making his way in a world in which the odds were stacked against him.
The pair spent countless hours working together under the main stand.
The old master showed the pupil how to gain power and direction in his headers by "hanging" in the air.
Dean honed Tommy's aerial skills by hanging from the stands a big, cased ball stuffed with wet paper to make it extra heavy.
The daily practice paid off. Lawton matured quickly to take over the No 9 shirt, score a hat full of goals, lead a young, rebuilt Everton team to the league title and become an established member of England's star-studded team.
Dean, just days away from his 30th birthday when Lawton arrived at Everton, was starting to feel his age.
Fourteen years of brutal battles with countless centre-halves had taken their toll. So had the long-term effects of a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 1926.
Displaying the bravery and determination which epitomised his football performances, he walked out of hospital and defied predictions that he would never play again.
He scored well over 350 goals in nearly 400 games in all competitions for Everton, including an astonishing 60 league goals in one season in 1927-28 – a record that still stands
In 16 games for England, Dean hit eight goals, including two hat-tricks.
Having taught Lawton all he knew, Dean joined Third Division Notts County towards the end of the 1937-38 season.
He followed Hughie Gallagher to Meadow Lane but, sadly, failed to have the same impact as the former Scottish international.
Soon after making his Notts County debut on March 12, 1938, Dean needed surgery on an ankle injury and did not play for the first team again that season. A goalless draw on November 5, 1938, against Walsall was destined to be Dean's last game for Notts.
After making just nine appearances and scoring three goals for the Magpies, he moved to Ireland in January 1939 to play for Sligo Rovers.
Following wartime military service, he ran a pub in Chester and later worked for a football pools firm.
He had his right leg amputated in 1976 and died of a heart attack on March 1, 1980, while watching Everton play Liverpool at Goodison Park.
Lawton became a legendary player at Meadow Lane after Notts County achieved the transfer coup of all time by persuading the England and Chelsea centre-forward to move to the Third Division in 1947 for a club record fee of �20,000. His arrival added thousands to home gates and his goals eventually paved the way for promotion. But Lawton later spent a less happy time at Meadow Lane as manager.
Lawton was once asked who was the greatest footballer he ever played against.
He said it was a tough questions but had no hesitation in describing Dean as the best centre-forward of his era.
"Strong, fit and powerful and dangerous anywhere near a 30-yard radius of the goal," was how Lawton described Dean.
Get In There, by Barrie Williams and Tom Lawton Junior, is published by VSP at �16.99.
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