Thomas Myhre was an Everton player for four years and he has mixed emotions about his time on Merseyside.

While his last days as a goalkeeper at Goodison Park ended on a sour note, those that went before were up there with the best he has enjoyed in his 12 years as a professional.

Sunderland may be Myhre's ninth employer but he still holds his time at Everton close to his heart, highlighted by the excitement being felt as he prepares to take on his old club in the FA Cup fourth round this afternoon.

"I have been like a little child opening a huge present all week as the Everton game approaches," was the Scandinavian's description of the emotions he is going through.

Myhre's opening 18 months on Merseyside, after an £800,000 move from Viking Stavanger in late 1997, actually went better than was expected.

Despite being asked to dislodge Neville Southall, Everton's greatest ever goalkeeper, the new man on the block was worshipped by fans who frequently chanted 'Norway's No 1'.

And instead of being intimidated by Southall, who was still at the club for a few months and available for selection, Myhre took the opportunity to learn from him.

The Welshman left in March 1998 to take over a player/coach role at Stoke City just four months after Myhre arrived.

And the latter said: "I had good times there when I took over from Neville. It was a great experience to learn and train with one of my heroes that I had watched as a football fan in Norway.

"It was an impossible ask to follow Neville Southall. He had been there for 17 years and he played over 750 games for them.

"But people get older and he was still great to me. He supported me and they were really good times for me. Just to have worked with him was fantastic.

"I remember one day going in the morning before a game. Neville was in beforehand doing weights. How many would do that? He was a fantastic pro and a great character in training as well."

The turning point for Myhre came when he broke his ankle on international duty. Despite the impact made during his first year and a half, Myhre was banished to the reserves on his return to fitness.

He was never able to reclaim his first-team place and after loan spells at Birmingham, Copenhagen, Tranmere and Rangers, Myhre made a permanent switch to Besiktas in 2001.

"I ended my time at Everton in a sour way but I had some great times there. They are a fantastic club and fantastic fans.

"I played more or less every game for one and a half years, broke my ankle on international duty, which I shouldn't have done in some people's minds, and after that it went sour.

"But that's life and it's a long time ago," he said.

Now Myhre is at Sunderland and, for the first time since joining in 2002, he has been installed as the club's first choice goalkeeper ahead of Estonian Mart Poom.

Poom has returned to full training but faces a fight to dislodge the current incumbent of the Black Cats' goalkeeper jersey.

Myhre, out of contract in the summer, is still taking nothing for granted and has accepted that he may move on.

"I don't stress my situation I just look at doing the best I can and work hard in training. It's the manager's decision who he is picking. I have been in the game a long time and I know that you can go up and down," he said.

"But to play football here and for Norway is fantastic at the moment. I want to play week in and week out, that's all I want.

"Me and Mart are very good colleagues and he is saying the same thing. It's up to the manager."

And when Myhre enters the field of play at his former ground this afternoon he insists he will not be the only player in a red and white shirt feeling the excitement.

With so many young players in the Sunderland squad to have made the leap from lower leagues to Championship level, the 31-year-old claims today's FA Cup encounter is what football is all about and insists Sunderland have every chance of progressing.

Read more about Sunderland here.