Legacy is one of the great sporting buzzwords at the moment, even if its meaning is rather indistinct.

The Mayor of London expects us to believe that the Olympic legacy involves spending another £160million to give West Ham a new stadium they are unlikely to fill.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s legacy at Manchester United is deemed to be an unbalanced squad of over-achievers at the end of its natural life cycle.

Listen to a vocal minority of Everton fans, and David Moyes has tainted his legacy by coveting Leighton Baines and paying spectacularly over the odds for Marouane Fellaini.

That’s nonsense, of course. Moyes’ influence is benign, and will endure at what he memorably established as “The People’s Club”

“ Everton don’t need to sell any more of the family silver."

Roberto Martinez brings his own style, reflected in an evolving team entrusted with maintaining his peerless recent FA Cup record in Saturday’s televised fourth round tie at Stevenage (BT Sport 1, kick off 5.30pm).

He is media friendly, thoughtful, and upwardly mobile.

Yet some Evertonian principles are sacrosanct. They understand the value of a pound note (ask your Dad, kids) and have a rigorous approach to the rough and tumble of the transfer market.

The jettisoning of Nikita Jelavic and Victor Anichebe in return for £12.5million suggests Martinez should be running the economy, rather than a football club which continues to look, in vain, for a spendthrift Sheik to increase their spending power.

Everton have operated successfully in the loan market, by harvesting the goals of Romelu Lukaku, the grit of Gareth Barry and the budding genius of Gerard Deulofeu, whose return from an untimely hamstring injury cannot come soon enough.

Though they continue to rely on the Old Contemptibles, Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin, at the back, one of Moyes’ final signings, John Stones, is in the process of justifying Martinez’s suggestion that he is “the most promising centre half in the country”.

In the doubtful event of there being a better pair of full backs in the Premier League than Seamus Coleman and Baines, then Moyes would love to sign them for Manchester United.

And there, in a nutshell, is what happens when the legacy doesn’t stack up.

Moyes’ problem is that Everton are resistant to the acquisitive ambitions of their former manager. He would sanction a £50million move for Ross Barkley in a heartbeat, but unless Everton owner Bill Kenwright is a hypocrite – which I severely doubt – he will never get the chance.

Everton don’t need to sell any more of the family silver.