The British public's stamp of approval came last weekend when the Sunday People ran a two-page spread on Joe-Max Moore. Just in case the fact that the Everton forward happens to be an American had eluded one of its readers, the tabloid somehow cajoled Moore into posing for a photograph in which he was brandishing a six-gun, a bandoleer draped over one shoulder, and wearing a preposterously outsized and misshapen ten-gallon hat that appeared to have once been worn by Gabby Hayes in an old Roy Rogers film.

Moore's scoring rampage had, alas, ground to a halt a day earlier, when Everton were held to a 1-1 home draw by second-from-bottom Sheffield Wednesday. Over the previous six weeks, though, the former New England Revolution star had established himself as the hottest American player ever to set foot to ball in Britain. Moore had scored in each of Everton's previous five games, and six of its last seven.

When Moore arrived in Liverpool two months ago, a grizzled Goodison Park press box denizen confessed to me last weekend: "We didn't know what to expect. We didn't know a thing about him."

But less than a month after he broke into the starting line-up, Moore's picture graced both last week's issue of the club's Evertonian newspaper and Saturday's match programme. The Everton "megastore" has had to reorder supplies of its briskest-selling item - replicas of Joe-Max's number 23 Everton jersey. In New England, where he spent the past four seasons, Moore could walk the streets of Boston virtually unnoticed. He can't set foot in a Liverpool restaurant without being besieged by adoring fans. After one game last month a man walked up to him on the street and kissed him.

"I'll tell you, I've never experienced anything like it," Moore said of his Merseyside reception. "The way the people in the city react to the games, to me being here, it's been an incredible experience. You'd have to compare it to NBA players at home, I guess. I mean it was only once every other day somebody would even recognise me in Boston, but it's completely different here. Your face is on the front pages of the papers, you're on the news. That's just the way it is."

Moore, of course, is hardly the first American to play in the Premier League. Current Revolution midfielder John Harkes once scored (for Sheffield Wednesday) in the League Cup final at Wembley, goalkeepers Kasey Keller (formerly of Leicester) and Brad Friedel (Liverpool) have enjoyed decent careers in England.

"And Roy Wegerle (who scored 29 goals in his career with Queens Park Rangers) played here as a striker, but he was kind of a naturalised American," said Moore of his South African-born former team-mate on the US national squad.

No American has burst onto the English scene with the impact Moore - who played for the US in the 1994 and 1998 World Cups - has made in his brief tenure at Goodison. As a matter of fact, in the four years he spent with the Revolution after being brought to the club by Frank Stapleton midway through the 1996 season, he never scored in five straight games.

"I guess I didn't," said Moore with an ironic smile. "Playing with these guys, and every day in training, I'm feeling sharp. I'm feeling confident, and I've been in the right spot a few times for the goals. I just hope it continues."

In recent years Everton have found themselves in a relegation battle at this time of year but this term are in sixth place despite Saturday's unwelcome result.

Moore's time in New England was frequently plagued by injury. In 1999, his first relatively healthy year, he scored 15 goals while playing in 30 games, but it was no secret that Moore was becoming restless with the Revolution, where he had played under three managers in four seasons.

In a league in which it is nearly impossible to miss the post-season play-offs, the Revolution reached that modest goal just once in his four seasons, and Moore confided to me that he had come to the conclusion that, following the United States' unhappy experience in France, "If we're going to get better as a team, I think all of us should be playing in Europe".

Before linking up with Stapleton at Foxboro, Moore had played for three seasons with Nurnberg and Saarbrucken in Germany. He was already eyeing a return to Europe when Everton came calling.

His agent, Paul Stretford, pursued the contract, and manager Walter Smith signed him after consulting with his Scottish defender Richard Gough, who had played against Moore in his stints with the Kansas City Wizards and San Jose Clash.

Everton's website claims that Moore came to the Blues from a team called the "New England Reds" at a cost of £2.5 million. In fact Moore's contract with Major League Soccer had expired and that made him most attractive to Smith in the first place.

"Everton had struggled for money a bit in the past couple of years, so getting me on a free transfer was obviously the most important thing from their standpoint," said Moore, who was instantly christened "Joe-Max Less" by the sceptical Goodison faithful.

"You can't ignore a run of goalscoring like Joe has had recently," said Smith. "But Joe puts a lot into his game and he's worked hard for the team. He's earned the success he's had."

Moore said that many British fans seem surprised to learn that Americans even play the game, but his own soccer pedigree is impressive enough. He learned the game as a toddler in Oklahoma. Barely old enough to walk, he served as a ball-boy for the Tulsa Roughnecks of the old NASL. His oilman father owned the club, and as a youngster Moore watched the likes of Best, Beckenbauer, and Pele pass through town.

Does Joe-Max Moore see himself as a trailblazer for fellow countrymen to follow across the Atlantic?

"Obviously, it's very important that the league (MLS) keeps its best players," said Moore. "But I think for a select few who still have a desire to play at the top level, I think this is where it is. I mean, I hope I'm making it easier for players in the future to come over. I guess at this point I'm not hurting anybody's chances."