NEVILLE SOUTHALL

1981- 98 GAMES 747 CLUB EVERTON

BEFORE In 1980- 81, Everton had come 15th in the First Division – a slight improvement on 1979- 80’ s 19th. In short: going nowhere fast.

LEGACY No one can take away Southall’s one vote in the 1988 Ballon d’or listings – even if it probably wasn’t the right year for Goodison Park’s greatest cult hero to be acknowledged. Make no mistake, though: the former bin man was legitimately among the world’s supreme shot- stoppers throughout the 1980s, having become Howard Kendall’s inaugural Everton signing following a tip from the new gaffer’s pub- owning pal in Llandudno.

Big Nev played a pivotal role in the Toffees’ golden spell: in four years they were FA Cup, First Division and European Cup Winners’ Cup champions, and won another top- flight title in 1987. Even in 1988, Southall’s heroics had denied a ruffled Liverpool English football’s ( then) all- time unbeaten record of 30 games after a famous 1- 0 victory at Goodison.

The Welshman, FWA Player of the Year in 1985, was denied European Cup football after the Heysel disaster and never got to play in the continent’s premier competition. “Being Welsh and not going to World Cups, he didn’t get the recognition he deserved – but there was no better goalkeeper around,” enthused former team- mate Ian Rush. Southall could have moved elsewhere, but as he admitted to FFT in 2012, “I told Alex Ferguson to f** k off because I thought it was someone else. That probably ruined my chances.”

Fate kept him at Goodison to win a second FA Cup in 1995, however – against United – and cement Southall’s legacy as the greatest Toffee of all time. Fittingly, he celebrated that Wembley success by driving straight home for a cup of tea. “Once you’ve seen one man jumping around in his kilt, you don’t need to see any more,” he said. He’d earned the right.

BEST MOMENT Denying Mark Falco at White Hart Lane, as Everton powered towards the title in ’ 85. Described by the Mail’s Jeff Powell as “the most astonishing save since Gordon Banks left Pele dumbfounded”.

THE FORMER BIN MAN WAS LEGITIMATELY ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST KEEPERS THROUGHOUT THE 1980S