Neville Southall

Neville Southall

Personal information
Full name	Neville Southall
Date of birth	16 September 1958 (1958-09-16) (age 53)
Place of birth	Llandudno, Wales
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	Llandudno Swifts
	Conwy United
	Bangor City
1979–1980	Winsford United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1980–1981	Bury	39	(0)
1981–1998	Everton	578	(0)
1983	→ Port Vale (loan)	9	(0)
1997–1998	→ Southend United (loan)	9	(0)
1998	→ Stoke City (loan)	3	(0)
1998	Stoke City	9	(0)
1998–2000	Torquay United	53	(0)
1999	→ Huddersfield Town (loan)	0	(0)
2000	Bradford City	1	(0)
2001	York City	0	(0)
2001	Rhyl	0	(0)
2001	Shrewsbury Town
2001	Dover Athletic	0	(0)
2001–2002	Shrewsbury Town	0	(0)
2002	Dagenham & Redbridge
Total		701+	(0+)
National team
1982–1998	Wales[1]	92	(0)
Teams managed
1999	Wales (caretaker manager)
2001–2002	Dover Athletic
2004–2005	Hastings United
2009	Margate (Caretaker Manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Neville Southall MBE (born 16 September 1958) is a former Wales international footballer, best known for his time with Everton. He has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985. He was awarded the MBE in 1995 for his services to football.

Southall joined Everton in 1981 and went on to make a club record 578 appearances in the Football League and Premier League (750 in all competitions) and helped the team to win a number of honours including the league championship and FA Cup on two occasions each and the European Cup Winners Cup. He also played internationally for Wales, winning a record 92 caps between 1982 and 1998.

Since his retirement as a player, Southall has managed a number of non-league teams with little success and has coached the Welsh national youth teams.

Early life

A native of Llandudno, he played youth football as centre back for his school team and the Llandudno Swifts, where he played alongside Joey Jones.

As a teenager, Southall had unsuccessful trials at Crewe Alexandra and Bolton.^[2] He then worked as a binman, waiter and hod carrier and therefore entered the game relatively late.

Playing career

Club career

In 1980 he joined Bury, Bury paying Winsford United £6,000. He played 39 Fourth Division games in the 1980–81 season, his performances attracting the attention of Howard Kendall. In 1981 he signed with First Division Everton for £150,000.^[2] He spent January and February 1983 on loan at Port Vale, back in the Fourth Division, he played nine games before being re-called to Goodison Park.^[3]

He became one of Everton's longest serving players and also one of its most iconic, enjoying early success in the 1980s.

In the 1983–84 season Southall and Everton made two appearances at Wembley in the Milk Cup final which was ultimately lost to Liverpool in a replay, and the FA Cup final, which brought home the first of piece of silverware during a the most successful era in Everton's history.

Southall's form in 1984–85 helped Everton win the league title, and the European Cup Winners' Cup but was only a Norman Whiteside goal from a possible treble, after the FA Cup final went to extra time before Everton lost 1–0 to Manchester United. Southall was named Football Writers Footballer of the Year in 1985, one of only four goalkeepers to win the award.

He missed a third successive FA Cup Final, in 1986, due to injury and his deputy Bobby Mimms took his place for the clash with Liverpool, which ended in a 3–1 defeat, and narrowly missed out on another championship. However a further championship winners medal was achieved in 1986–87.

In 1989, Southall was between the sticks in another all-Merseyside final. As had happened in 1986, the FA Cup final saw Everton losing to Liverpool, this time with a 3–2 scoreline after extra time. Halfway through the 1989–90 season, with Jim Leighton under fire for Manchester United's dismal league form, there was a rumour that Alex Ferguson would bring Southall to Old Trafford, but the transfer never happened and United signed Les Sealey from Luton Town instead.

During the opening match of the 1990–91 season, he famously sat down during a "sulking session" against a goalpost at half-time whilst his teammates were still in the changing rooms while three goals down to newly promoted Leeds United (a game eventually lost 3–2), a lasting image which epitomised the era. This was a turbulent time for Southall as he handed in several transfer requests throughout the season and did so further on in his Everton career.

By now Everton were a declining force, however Southall remained a constant fixture for the blues and his loyalty was rewarded in 1995 when he turned in a man of the match performance to thwart Manchester United in the FA Cup final and claim his first silverware for eight years, when Everton had been league champions.

Southall was also given a testimonial against Celtic in 1995 for his services to Everton.

In December 1997 the ageing Southall went to Southend United of Division Two on loan, he played nine games before moving on to Stoke City in February 1998. The move to Stoke was made permanent the following month, Everton allowing him to leave on a free transfer after 18 years. At the end of the season he was released, before he signed with Torquay United of the Third Division in December 1998. Now aged 40, he was still fit enough to play 61 competitive games before departing in February 2000. He made a remarkable return to the Premier League by signing with Bradford City. He appeared at Valley Parade on 12 March 2000, at the age of 41, conceding two to Leeds United's Michael Bridges (20 years his junior) in a 2–1 defeat. He remains one of the oldest players ever to have appeared in the Premier League.

Moving on from Bradford at the end of the 2000–01 season he later turned out for York City, Rhyl, Shrewsbury Town,^[4] Dover Athletic and Dagenham & Redbridge. By 2002 his career as a player had finally come to an end at the grand old age of 44.

International career

His 92 Welsh caps are a national record, he conceded 126 goals, for an average of 1.34 per match.^[5] The 1958 FIFA World Cup is the only time Wales qualified for a major tournament and the British Home Championship was played for the final time in 1984, therefore the majority of Southall's caps came in friendlies or qualifying games.

He was between the sticks for Wales in the fateful World Cup qualifier at Ninian Park on 10 September 1985, when their hopes of qualification ended when Scotland scored a late equaliser to force a 1–1 draw. However, the result of the game was put into perspective when Scotland manager Jock Stein suffered a heart attack at the end of the game and died shortly afterwards.

His first cap came against Northern Ireland at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham on 27 May 1982 in the 1982 British Home Championship, Wales won 3–0. Fifteen years later, a month away from his 39th birthday, he won his final cap, a World Cup qualifying game against Turkey on 20 August 1997, the Turks won 6–4, though Southall only played half the match.

Coaching and management career

Still active he was appointed caretaker manager of Wales following the dismissal of Bobby Gould after a 4–0 defeat against Italy on 5 June 1999. In his only game in charge Wales lost 2–0 to Denmark on 9 June 1999. After his playing days were over, in September 2000 Southall applied for the vacant management position at Fram Reykjavik in Iceland.^[6] He later gained coaching experience with the Welsh national squad, Dagenham & Redbridge, Canvey Island and Molesey before becoming manager of Dover Athletic in December 2001.^[7] His managing stint at the Kent club was short and he was sacked in March 2002, after only a few months in charge.^[8]

He had a spell as Wales under-19 coach, but quit his post in November, claiming he was treated with "a total lack of respect" and that the coaching was compromised because "...as always, it's about money." FAW management committee chairman Ken Tucker made a stinging rebuke, saying: "Nev is making comments on things he knows little about. It is sad when people make comments without any knowledge of the finances of the FAW."^[9]

A month after resigning from the national scene, Southall returned to management with Hastings United.^[10] However just one year on he was sacked, with the Hastings chairman saying that "there have recently been an increasing number of issues on which Neville and I have disagreed and it had got to the point where our working relationship had broken down, beyond the point of repair, as far as I was concerned".^[11]

In November 2005, Paul Merson and Walsall approached Southall, ex-England star David Seaman and Chris Woods to perform in an FA Cup game at Merthyr Tydfil as their two first choice goalkeepers, Joe Murphy and Andy Oakes, were unavailable. Southall decline the offer.^[12]

In 2008, he became part of the coaching team at Margate in the Isthmian League Premier Division, However in 2009 he became the caretaker Manager after Terry Yorath resigned as manager after just one season in charge of the club.

Personal life

In December 2007, Southall recovered the medals and trophies he had previously given to his teenage daughter, following successful legal action through the Liverpool courts. The case left his daughter, a student, with a legal bill of £6,000.^[13]

Southall teaches academy football for 10 hours a week at Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury, Kent, and has also taught tennis and cross country running.

Legacy

In December 2004 he was voted as the Everton's all-time cult hero.^[14]

Honours

Everton

• European Cup Winners' Cup
  • Winner: 1985

• First Division
  • Champions: 1984–85, 1986–87
  • Runners-up: 1985–86

• FA Cup
  • Winners: 1984, 1995
  • Runners-up: 1985, 1989

• Football League Cup
  • Runners-up: 1984

• FA Charity Shield
  • Winners: 1984, 1985, 1995
  • Shared: 1986

Individual

• FWA Footballer of the Year: 1985
• Football League 100 Legends: 1998

References

1. ^ Alpuin, Luis Fernando Passo (20 February 2009). "Wales – Record International Players". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/wal-recintlp.html. Retrieved 10 March 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Neville Southall". BBC Wales North-West. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/halloffame/sport/nevillesouthall.shtml. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
3. ^ Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 276. ISBN 0952915200. http://www.amazon.ca/Port-Vale-Personalities-Jeff-Kent/dp/0952915200. 
4. ^ "Southall set for Shrews". BBC Sport. 6 December 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/shrewsbury/1693557.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
5. ^ "Neville Southall – International Appearances". rsssf.com. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/southall-intl.html. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
6. ^ "Southall seeks Icelandic job". BBC Sport. 11 September 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/919904.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
7. ^ "Dover appoint Southall". BBC Sport. 18 December 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/dover_athletic/1717288.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
8. ^ "Dover appoint Walker". BBC Sport. 3 March 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/dover_athletic/1870831.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
9. ^ "Southall quits Wales youth role". BBC Sport. 28 November 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4049631.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
10. ^ "Southall takes up Hastings post". BBC Sport. 16 December 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/4103215.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
11. ^ "Southall & Hastings part company". BBC Sport. 1 December 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/4488082.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
12. ^ "Seaman bid falls flat". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2367636/Seaman-bid-falls-flat.html. Retrieved 26 October 2011. 
13. ^ Parker, Andrew (03 Dec 2007). "Footie ace sues own daughter". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article535008.ece. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
14. ^ "Everton's cult heroes". Football Focus. 31 December 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/football_focus/4135307.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 

External links

• Neville Southall career stats at Soccerbase
• Neville Southall at the Internet Movie Database

Awards
Preceded by Steve Robinson	BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 1995	Succeeded by Ryan Giggs

Persondata
Name	Southall, Neville
Alternative names
Short description	Footballer
Date of birth	16 September 1958
Place of birth	Llandudno, Wales
Date of death
Place of death