Everton boss Roberto Martinez is delighted with the impact of Duncan Ferguson on the training pitch.

Ferguson was handed Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright's prestigious Blue Blood award at the club's annual Awards night on Wednesday.

"Duncan is one of those football people who will impress you the moment you sit down with him and speak about the game," Martinez told the Liverpool Echo. "He's not a player. He doesn't have the temperament he had as a player!

"As a coach he is a thinker. He is a very, very creative footballing brain - and after that it's the love and loyalty and the feeling that he has towards Everton.

"He represents Everton and that was always vital for me to have that representation in the first team.

"I think we have got fantastic Evertonians and fantastic characters throughout the system and I haven't been surprised with Duncan because the impression straight away in the first two months I saw him work was someone who, when he does something, does it with real high standards and a real meaning.

"He has been a very very important member of our staff this season.

"Remember when I made the decision to bring him into the first team it was because I had seen him work for a long time. It wasn't because I just decided to bring Duncan in and see what happened!"