Growing up in the mid 80’s there were a rich variety of personalities with differing attributes for the aspiring young goalkeeper to study; Peter Shilton, Jean Marie Pfaff, Bruce Grobbelaar, Harold Schumacher, Pat Jennings and the USSR’s unflappably cool Rinat Dasaev among them. For me, as much as my style actually resembled Liverpool’s aforementioned Zimbabwean on a bad day, there was only one true shining light to follow: Neville Southall. Among the many bargains picked up by Howard Kendall while assembling his great squad of 1984-87, the £150,000 paid to Bury for the Welshman’s services in 1981 must rank as one of the great pieces of business in Everton’s history.
Often dishevelled in appearance and (going by the accounts of those who played in front of him) a constant, moaning presence, he was the one player of their own that Evertonians could claim to be, without accusation of bias, a leading contender for the best in his position in the world. Not overwhelmingly physically imposing in the manner of a David James, his reflexes, athleticism and sheer presence more than compensated to drain centre forwards of belief and made the goal seem five-a-side size.
Just as Kevin Brock’s woefully short backpass is seen as the turning point for Kendall’s struggling young side in the 1983-4 season – culminating in FA Cup success – so Southall’s save from a point blank Mark Falco header at White Hart Lane (at around 3m20 on the video), toward the end of a top of the table clash with Spurs which sealed a 2-1 victory, gave the team the final decisive kick for home and a first title in fifteen years. Football Writers Player of the Year at the conclusion of that season, it is a measure of the confidence he instilled amongst Evertonians that an injury sustained on international duty at Landsdowne Road is often seen as the crucial factor in the team ultimately ending the 1985-6 season potless, despite the perfectly adequate job done by replacement Bobby Mimms.
Eventually appearing 751 times for the club, he is rightly held up as a true Everton ‘legend’ at a time when the term is used far too loosely. Indeed it is probably only his notoriously abrasive, perfectionist personality that has stopped him being employed at a high level as a manager or coach. Although it was probably the characteristic that drove him to the top in the first place. Loved by anyone of a Blue persuasion and, due perhaps to Wales’ failure to qualify for a World Cup and the club’s lower media profile, underappreciated in wider circles, he remains my first and dominant footballing idol.
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