It was July 1995 and Everton fans were still basking in the glow of an FA Cup final victory over Manchester United a couple of months before.

So perhaps not a great deal of attention was paid at Goodison Park back then to events a few miles up the M62 at Wigan Athletic, where the Third Division club made the unusual move of signing three Spanish players no-one had heard of.

Roberto Martinez, Jesus Seba and Isidro Diaz were dubbed ‘The Three Amigos’, a reference to a Chevy Chase comedy  movie about a trio of spoof Mexican bandits made a few years before.

Some suspected it was a stunt, instigated by Wigan’s ambitious new owner Dave Whelan to generate interest in the thinly-supported club.

But Whelan, a former professional footballer turned multimillionaire businessman in the sports goods retail trade, was serious in his intentions. He believed the three Spanish players could help to kick-start a project to build Wigan into a Premier League force.

If fans of a top-flight clubs sniggered at the time, no-one could scoff at how Whelan  turned his dreams into reality, or how   one of the three Amigos in particular, made himself a household name in the English game.

Whelan’s business nous, ruthlessness and wealth drove Wigan’s climb up the divisions under a succession of managers. They reached the Premier League in 2005 with Paul Jewell.

They stayed there until last month when relegation back to the Championship followed a few days after the most glorious moment in the club’s history, lifting the FA Cup  following an upset victory over favourites Manchester City.

Martinez, Wigan’s manager of the last four seasons, was centre stage at Wembley, as he was as the Emirates Stadium the following Tuesday when a 4-1 defeat by Arsenal ended a  Premier League adventure that lasted longer than anyone could have expected.

The focus was on the Spaniard on both occasions because it was clear by then that irrespective of the outcome of the cup final or the relegation dogfight, Martinez  was the man most likely to succeed David Moyes at Everton.

Wigan defender Emmerson Boyce says he can see why Everton rate Martinez.

Boyce said: “For Wigan it’s a massive blow to lose the manager. He brought a brand of football to Wigan that not many have seen, in that a team near the bottom played such attractive football.

“His knowledge of the game is excellent and tactically he’s very good, as he showed in the FA Cup final against Manchester City.

“If he goes to Everton, they will have a very, very good manager.”

Martinez, having established himself as the Amigo best able to adapt his playing style to English conditions during the 1990s, has  made an even greater impact  as a manager.

Leading Swansea City to promotion to the Championship in 2007-08 was an achievement that marked his  qualities as a leader and coach and earned him the chance to work under Whelan once more as manager of Wigan for the last four seasons.

Keeping Wigan in the top flight on modest gates  and a modest budget added sufficient substance to Martinez’s  CV that relegation did not seriously damage his reputation within the game or deter Everton from opening discussions about the role at Goodison Park.

Confirmation of Martinez’s appointment is expected early next week.

Eighteen years after arriving in the UK, Martinez will have earned the right to control one of England’s longest-established top-flight clubs. The football world was a different place back in 1995 when an employee working for Whelan’s sports stores operation in Spain reported back about three promising players in Real Zaragoza’s B team.

By the time Wigan made the approaches, Martinez and Diaz had moved to Balaguer and Seba  was out on  loan at Villarreal.

The trio had doubts about the move, naturally enough. But Seba remembers Whelan was remarkably persuasive.

“If you listen to Mr Whelan you believe, you follow,” he said. “So we signed up. We did not really think about there being no Spanish players in England at that time. Or why.”

As it turned out, the Three Amigos opened up an avenue down which many Spanish players would follow.

Not to mention players from every part of the globe, attracted by the glamour, wealth and success of the Premier League. There were some difficult, almost comic moments in those early days. The three went to Wigan College twice a week to learn English. They drove around town in a sponsored club car with ‘The Three Amigos’ written on the side.

Seba admitted: “We kept going the wrong way around the roundabouts. I had a crash in the first week. The driver of the other car was a Moroccan. The police arrived and did not know what to do.”

It wasn’t so easy on the pitch either. Seba said: “It was difficult because we played a long ball game all the time.”

Diaz remembered that Martinez’s interest in coaching was evident early on.

He said: “When we played at Balaguer and then at Wigan, after the games or at half-time, Roberto would always talk about tactics. You could see he was interested in being a coach.”

Martinez was leading scorer (13 goals) in his first season as a player at Wigan and the supporters’ player of the year.

He helped Wigan win promotion from Division Three as champions under John Deehan in 1997. By the time he left Wigan in 2001, Martinez had played  226 games for the club, scoring 24 goals.

Short-term spells at Motherwell and Walsall were followed by a move to Swansea City, where Martinez helped the side managed by Kenny Jackett win promotion to League One in 2005.

Martinez made a brief stop at Chester City in 2006-07 before starting his management career with Swansea City, where he took the South Wales club to promotion to the Championship as champions in 2008.

The journey to Goodison has begun.