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Neville Southall

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Excellent read.




The Art of Football: Neville Southall on shot-stopping

Neville Southall: 'I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder'



Goalkeeping is football’s most physical pursuit. With an expanse eight yards wide and eight feet high to protect, goalkeepers must be imposing, commanding and agile, willing to plough unflinchingly through clouds of shoulders and elbows and able to fling themselves from one side of their goal to the other at a millisecond’s notice.

More testing even than the position’s athletic requirements, though, are its unique psychological demands – focus is paramount; confidence is imperative.

“You’ve got to have a mindset of ‘Why can’t I save everything?’,” says Neville Southall, one of British football's greatest shot-stoppers. “Your body won’t move without your brain. Your mindset has got to be really sharp, really lively. You have to be at a certain level mentally to let your reflexes flow.

“It comes back to fight or flight. In a game situation, you have to be switched on. The physical bit’s dead easy, because you’re warm or you’re not warm. It’s about how you get that focus at the right time.”
A two-time league champion with Everton, capped 92 times for Wales and the last goalkeeper to be named FWA Footballer of the Year, Southall had it all: size, smarts and stunning reflex saves. But stripped back to its elements, Southall’s work was simple, focusing on augmenting his natural ability by adhering to fundamental principles.

66-Speed-Tribute-GETTY.jpg


Neville Southall in Everton colours against Bolton in 1997

“There were only three things I ever bothered with,” he says. “Eyes – if you can’t see the ball, you can’t save it; hands – practise catching; and feet – if you can see it and catch it but you can’t move, what’s the point? As a kid, I would keep a diary of all the things I did well and all the things I didn’t do so well. Every six weeks, I’d examine everything I did.”

Southall’s first exposure to organised football with hapless local side Llandudno Swifts offered ample opportunity to hone his craft – “We got beat a lot; 16-0 was a moral victory.” At school, he would play in teams two or three years above his age group, and he was playing men’s football for a pub team in a Sunday league aged 12. But Southall received little in the way of formal, position-specific coaching until he reached the top of the professional game.

“It was all natural,” he says. “I never thought I was anything special. I had decent natural technique, decent natural balance. It was never going to give me really bad habits. What I did until I was 20, I did on my own. The first proper goalkeeping coach I had was at Everton.”
There was nothing especially sophisticated about the bespoke goalkeeping training Southall eventually benefitted from at Everton, but simple exercises served to reduce reaction times and enhance hand-eye co-ordination.

“The ball got pulled back from the byline and you’d have to run from one end of the goal to the other,” Southall says, detailing the typical drills he’d work through. “Or you’d have your back to play and they’d shout ‘Turn’. We had the wall at Belfield, and they’d hit the ball at the wall and it’d go anywhere. And we’d use a tennis ball sometimes; the smaller ball would sharpen your reflexes.”

Although his 20-year career passed long before 'sweeper-keeper' entered the footballing lexicon, Southall is a staunch advocate of a proactive approach to goalkeeping. He might not have rushed regularly from his penalty area a la Manuel Neuer, but he applied a cerebral approach to preventing the need to call upon his world-class reflexes.

“A lot of keepers now are reactive – they just react to situations,” he says. “I want a keeper who can think his way through games. You’ve got to be in the right position to give yourself the base to make saves.

“A thinker will be able to stop a situation 40 yards away from goal; somebody who reacts tends to stops it six yards out. I know which I’d prefer. I would want to cut it out further away, by putting defenders in certain positions or reading the play.”

Neville Southall describes goalkeeping as 'like chess' (Getty)
This preventative philosophy extends to the moments immediately after a save is made, too, in which a considered, well-drilled and accurate parry can guard against further stops being necessary.

“If there are forwards running in, you look for the gaps,” Southall explains. “It’s all about the angle of your hand and where you want it to go. You can angle it out for a corner, or angle it through a gap – you don’t have to push it straight back out. You can think of it like a cricket bat, the way you angle your wrist to push the ball away. In training, we used to practise angling it between poles, or flicking the ball over peoples’ heads as they run in.”

As much a key to his success as his rapid reactions and flawless positioning was Southall’s ability to instigate a battle of wits with opponents, to inspire indecision and, wherever possible, seek even the most marginal of advantages.

“I based my game on putting myself in a position to intimidate, to influence things. It’s like chess: if you can make the other person do what you want them to do, you don’t have to do anything – that’s what the art of goalkeeping is.

“I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder, in a night game, for a forward to pick me out. That might buy you a second for a defender to get back. And I never put anything in the corner of my goal. I never put a bottle in the net, I would never put gloves in the net. Why would I want to give the forward something to aim at? Give them nothing, then you’ve got a chance. It’s about taking everything away from a forward that you can, and putting more pressure on him.”

As with any other role on a football pitch, astute coaching, hours of practise and a proclivity for learning can see goalkeeper’s make striding improvements; techniques can be refined and athleticism can be enhanced.

But it is the sharpening of one’s mental tools, Southall believes, that truly separates the great goalkeepers from the merely good.
“Some people have naturally got the reflexes, but everything can be improved on. The difference between the bottom rung of footballers and the top is their brains; they see things quicker. Everybody can be super-fit, but not everyone can be super-intelligent in football.”
 
Excellent read.




The Art of Football: Neville Southall on shot-stopping

Neville Southall: 'I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder''I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder'



Goalkeeping is football’s most physical pursuit. With an expanse eight yards wide and eight feet high to protect, goalkeepers must be imposing, commanding and agile, willing to plough unflinchingly through clouds of shoulders and elbows and able to fling themselves from one side of their goal to the other at a millisecond’s notice.

More testing even than the position’s athletic requirements, though, are its unique psychological demands – focus is paramount; confidence is imperative.

“You’ve got to have a mindset of ‘Why can’t I save everything?’,” says Neville Southall, one of British football's greatest shot-stoppers. “Your body won’t move without your brain. Your mindset has got to be really sharp, really lively. You have to be at a certain level mentally to let your reflexes flow.

“It comes back to fight or flight. In a game situation, you have to be switched on. The physical bit’s dead easy, because you’re warm or you’re not warm. It’s about how you get that focus at the right time.”
A two-time league champion with Everton, capped 92 times for Wales and the last goalkeeper to be named FWA Footballer of the Year, Southall had it all: size, smarts and stunning reflex saves. But stripped back to its elements, Southall’s work was simple, focusing on augmenting his natural ability by adhering to fundamental principles.

66-Speed-Tribute-GETTY.jpg


Neville Southall in Everton colours against Bolton in 1997

“There were only three things I ever bothered with,” he says. “Eyes – if you can’t see the ball, you can’t save it; hands – practise catching; and feet – if you can see it and catch it but you can’t move, what’s the point? As a kid, I would keep a diary of all the things I did well and all the things I didn’t do so well. Every six weeks, I’d examine everything I did.”

Southall’s first exposure to organised football with hapless local side Llandudno Swifts offered ample opportunity to hone his craft – “We got beat a lot; 16-0 was a moral victory.” At school, he would play in teams two or three years above his age group, and he was playing men’s football for a pub team in a Sunday league aged 12. But Southall received little in the way of formal, position-specific coaching until he reached the top of the professional game.

“It was all natural,” he says. “I never thought I was anything special. I had decent natural technique, decent natural balance. It was never going to give me really bad habits. What I did until I was 20, I did on my own. The first proper goalkeeping coach I had was at Everton.”
There was nothing especially sophisticated about the bespoke goalkeeping training Southall eventually benefitted from at Everton, but simple exercises served to reduce reaction times and enhance hand-eye co-ordination.

“The ball got pulled back from the byline and you’d have to run from one end of the goal to the other,” Southall says, detailing the typical drills he’d work through. “Or you’d have your back to play and they’d shout ‘Turn’. We had the wall at Belfield, and they’d hit the ball at the wall and it’d go anywhere. And we’d use a tennis ball sometimes; the smaller ball would sharpen your reflexes.”

Although his 20-year career passed long before 'sweeper-keeper' entered the footballing lexicon, Southall is a staunch advocate of a proactive approach to goalkeeping. He might not have rushed regularly from his penalty area a la Manuel Neuer, but he applied a cerebral approach to preventing the need to call upon his world-class reflexes.

“A lot of keepers now are reactive – they just react to situations,” he says. “I want a keeper who can think his way through games. You’ve got to be in the right position to give yourself the base to make saves.

“A thinker will be able to stop a situation 40 yards away from goal; somebody who reacts tends to stops it six yards out. I know which I’d prefer. I would want to cut it out further away, by putting defenders in certain positions or reading the play.”

Neville Southall describes goalkeeping as 'like chess' (Getty)
This preventative philosophy extends to the moments immediately after a save is made, too, in which a considered, well-drilled and accurate parry can guard against further stops being necessary.

“If there are forwards running in, you look for the gaps,” Southall explains. “It’s all about the angle of your hand and where you want it to go. You can angle it out for a corner, or angle it through a gap – you don’t have to push it straight back out. You can think of it like a cricket bat, the way you angle your wrist to push the ball away. In training, we used to practise angling it between poles, or flicking the ball over peoples’ heads as they run in.”

As much a key to his success as his rapid reactions and flawless positioning was Southall’s ability to instigate a battle of wits with opponents, to inspire indecision and, wherever possible, seek even the most marginal of advantages.

“I based my game on putting myself in a position to intimidate, to influence things. It’s like chess: if you can make the other person do what you want them to do, you don’t have to do anything – that’s what the art of goalkeeping is.

“I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder, in a night game, for a forward to pick me out. That might buy you a second for a defender to get back. And I never put anything in the corner of my goal. I never put a bottle in the net, I would never put gloves in the net. Why would I want to give the forward something to aim at? Give them nothing, then you’ve got a chance. It’s about taking everything away from a forward that you can, and putting more pressure on him.”

As with any other role on a football pitch, astute coaching, hours of practise and a proclivity for learning can see goalkeeper’s make striding improvements; techniques can be refined and athleticism can be enhanced.

But it is the sharpening of one’s mental tools, Southall believes, that truly separates the great goalkeepers from the merely good.
“Some people have naturally got the reflexes, but everything can be improved on. The difference between the bottom rung of footballers and the top is their brains; they see things quicker. Everybody can be super-fit, but not everyone can be super-intelligent in football.”

What can one say about this goalkeeper - sublime.
 
Excellent read.




The Art of Football: Neville Southall on shot-stopping

Neville Southall: 'I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder''I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder'



Goalkeeping is football’s most physical pursuit. With an expanse eight yards wide and eight feet high to protect, goalkeepers must be imposing, commanding and agile, willing to plough unflinchingly through clouds of shoulders and elbows and able to fling themselves from one side of their goal to the other at a millisecond’s notice.

More testing even than the position’s athletic requirements, though, are its unique psychological demands – focus is paramount; confidence is imperative.

“You’ve got to have a mindset of ‘Why can’t I save everything?’,” says Neville Southall, one of British football's greatest shot-stoppers. “Your body won’t move without your brain. Your mindset has got to be really sharp, really lively. You have to be at a certain level mentally to let your reflexes flow.

“It comes back to fight or flight. In a game situation, you have to be switched on. The physical bit’s dead easy, because you’re warm or you’re not warm. It’s about how you get that focus at the right time.”
A two-time league champion with Everton, capped 92 times for Wales and the last goalkeeper to be named FWA Footballer of the Year, Southall had it all: size, smarts and stunning reflex saves. But stripped back to its elements, Southall’s work was simple, focusing on augmenting his natural ability by adhering to fundamental principles.

66-Speed-Tribute-GETTY.jpg


Neville Southall in Everton colours against Bolton in 1997

“There were only three things I ever bothered with,” he says. “Eyes – if you can’t see the ball, you can’t save it; hands – practise catching; and feet – if you can see it and catch it but you can’t move, what’s the point? As a kid, I would keep a diary of all the things I did well and all the things I didn’t do so well. Every six weeks, I’d examine everything I did.”

Southall’s first exposure to organised football with hapless local side Llandudno Swifts offered ample opportunity to hone his craft – “We got beat a lot; 16-0 was a moral victory.” At school, he would play in teams two or three years above his age group, and he was playing men’s football for a pub team in a Sunday league aged 12. But Southall received little in the way of formal, position-specific coaching until he reached the top of the professional game.

“It was all natural,” he says. “I never thought I was anything special. I had decent natural technique, decent natural balance. It was never going to give me really bad habits. What I did until I was 20, I did on my own. The first proper goalkeeping coach I had was at Everton.”
There was nothing especially sophisticated about the bespoke goalkeeping training Southall eventually benefitted from at Everton, but simple exercises served to reduce reaction times and enhance hand-eye co-ordination.

“The ball got pulled back from the byline and you’d have to run from one end of the goal to the other,” Southall says, detailing the typical drills he’d work through. “Or you’d have your back to play and they’d shout ‘Turn’. We had the wall at Belfield, and they’d hit the ball at the wall and it’d go anywhere. And we’d use a tennis ball sometimes; the smaller ball would sharpen your reflexes.”

Although his 20-year career passed long before 'sweeper-keeper' entered the footballing lexicon, Southall is a staunch advocate of a proactive approach to goalkeeping. He might not have rushed regularly from his penalty area a la Manuel Neuer, but he applied a cerebral approach to preventing the need to call upon his world-class reflexes.

“A lot of keepers now are reactive – they just react to situations,” he says. “I want a keeper who can think his way through games. You’ve got to be in the right position to give yourself the base to make saves.

“A thinker will be able to stop a situation 40 yards away from goal; somebody who reacts tends to stops it six yards out. I know which I’d prefer. I would want to cut it out further away, by putting defenders in certain positions or reading the play.”

Neville Southall describes goalkeeping as 'like chess' (Getty)
This preventative philosophy extends to the moments immediately after a save is made, too, in which a considered, well-drilled and accurate parry can guard against further stops being necessary.

“If there are forwards running in, you look for the gaps,” Southall explains. “It’s all about the angle of your hand and where you want it to go. You can angle it out for a corner, or angle it through a gap – you don’t have to push it straight back out. You can think of it like a cricket bat, the way you angle your wrist to push the ball away. In training, we used to practise angling it between poles, or flicking the ball over peoples’ heads as they run in.”

As much a key to his success as his rapid reactions and flawless positioning was Southall’s ability to instigate a battle of wits with opponents, to inspire indecision and, wherever possible, seek even the most marginal of advantages.

“I based my game on putting myself in a position to intimidate, to influence things. It’s like chess: if you can make the other person do what you want them to do, you don’t have to do anything – that’s what the art of goalkeeping is.

“I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder, in a night game, for a forward to pick me out. That might buy you a second for a defender to get back. And I never put anything in the corner of my goal. I never put a bottle in the net, I would never put gloves in the net. Why would I want to give the forward something to aim at? Give them nothing, then you’ve got a chance. It’s about taking everything away from a forward that you can, and putting more pressure on him.”

As with any other role on a football pitch, astute coaching, hours of practise and a proclivity for learning can see goalkeeper’s make striding improvements; techniques can be refined and athleticism can be enhanced.

But it is the sharpening of one’s mental tools, Southall believes, that truly separates the great goalkeepers from the merely good.
“Some people have naturally got the reflexes, but everything can be improved on. The difference between the bottom rung of footballers and the top is their brains; they see things quicker. Everybody can be super-fit, but not everyone can be super-intelligent in football.”

Great read that, cheers.
 

Excellent read.




The Art of Football: Neville Southall on shot-stopping

Neville Southall: 'I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder''I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder'



Goalkeeping is football’s most physical pursuit. With an expanse eight yards wide and eight feet high to protect, goalkeepers must be imposing, commanding and agile, willing to plough unflinchingly through clouds of shoulders and elbows and able to fling themselves from one side of their goal to the other at a millisecond’s notice.

More testing even than the position’s athletic requirements, though, are its unique psychological demands – focus is paramount; confidence is imperative.

“You’ve got to have a mindset of ‘Why can’t I save everything?’,” says Neville Southall, one of British football's greatest shot-stoppers. “Your body won’t move without your brain. Your mindset has got to be really sharp, really lively. You have to be at a certain level mentally to let your reflexes flow.

“It comes back to fight or flight. In a game situation, you have to be switched on. The physical bit’s dead easy, because you’re warm or you’re not warm. It’s about how you get that focus at the right time.”
A two-time league champion with Everton, capped 92 times for Wales and the last goalkeeper to be named FWA Footballer of the Year, Southall had it all: size, smarts and stunning reflex saves. But stripped back to its elements, Southall’s work was simple, focusing on augmenting his natural ability by adhering to fundamental principles.

66-Speed-Tribute-GETTY.jpg


Neville Southall in Everton colours against Bolton in 1997

“There were only three things I ever bothered with,” he says. “Eyes – if you can’t see the ball, you can’t save it; hands – practise catching; and feet – if you can see it and catch it but you can’t move, what’s the point? As a kid, I would keep a diary of all the things I did well and all the things I didn’t do so well. Every six weeks, I’d examine everything I did.”

Southall’s first exposure to organised football with hapless local side Llandudno Swifts offered ample opportunity to hone his craft – “We got beat a lot; 16-0 was a moral victory.” At school, he would play in teams two or three years above his age group, and he was playing men’s football for a pub team in a Sunday league aged 12. But Southall received little in the way of formal, position-specific coaching until he reached the top of the professional game.

“It was all natural,” he says. “I never thought I was anything special. I had decent natural technique, decent natural balance. It was never going to give me really bad habits. What I did until I was 20, I did on my own. The first proper goalkeeping coach I had was at Everton.”
There was nothing especially sophisticated about the bespoke goalkeeping training Southall eventually benefitted from at Everton, but simple exercises served to reduce reaction times and enhance hand-eye co-ordination.

“The ball got pulled back from the byline and you’d have to run from one end of the goal to the other,” Southall says, detailing the typical drills he’d work through. “Or you’d have your back to play and they’d shout ‘Turn’. We had the wall at Belfield, and they’d hit the ball at the wall and it’d go anywhere. And we’d use a tennis ball sometimes; the smaller ball would sharpen your reflexes.”

Although his 20-year career passed long before 'sweeper-keeper' entered the footballing lexicon, Southall is a staunch advocate of a proactive approach to goalkeeping. He might not have rushed regularly from his penalty area a la Manuel Neuer, but he applied a cerebral approach to preventing the need to call upon his world-class reflexes.

“A lot of keepers now are reactive – they just react to situations,” he says. “I want a keeper who can think his way through games. You’ve got to be in the right position to give yourself the base to make saves.

“A thinker will be able to stop a situation 40 yards away from goal; somebody who reacts tends to stops it six yards out. I know which I’d prefer. I would want to cut it out further away, by putting defenders in certain positions or reading the play.”

Neville Southall describes goalkeeping as 'like chess' (Getty)
This preventative philosophy extends to the moments immediately after a save is made, too, in which a considered, well-drilled and accurate parry can guard against further stops being necessary.

“If there are forwards running in, you look for the gaps,” Southall explains. “It’s all about the angle of your hand and where you want it to go. You can angle it out for a corner, or angle it through a gap – you don’t have to push it straight back out. You can think of it like a cricket bat, the way you angle your wrist to push the ball away. In training, we used to practise angling it between poles, or flicking the ball over peoples’ heads as they run in.”

As much a key to his success as his rapid reactions and flawless positioning was Southall’s ability to instigate a battle of wits with opponents, to inspire indecision and, wherever possible, seek even the most marginal of advantages.

“I based my game on putting myself in a position to intimidate, to influence things. It’s like chess: if you can make the other person do what you want them to do, you don’t have to do anything – that’s what the art of goalkeeping is.

“I wore a black shirt because I thought it would be harder, in a night game, for a forward to pick me out. That might buy you a second for a defender to get back. And I never put anything in the corner of my goal. I never put a bottle in the net, I would never put gloves in the net. Why would I want to give the forward something to aim at? Give them nothing, then you’ve got a chance. It’s about taking everything away from a forward that you can, and putting more pressure on him.”

As with any other role on a football pitch, astute coaching, hours of practise and a proclivity for learning can see goalkeeper’s make striding improvements; techniques can be refined and athleticism can be enhanced.

But it is the sharpening of one’s mental tools, Southall believes, that truly separates the great goalkeepers from the merely good.
“Some people have naturally got the reflexes, but everything can be improved on. The difference between the bottom rung of footballers and the top is their brains; they see things quicker. Everybody can be super-fit, but not everyone can be super-intelligent in football.”

Look at Speedo contributing there also...
 

Neville Southall: Everton have spent badly – sacking Silva won’t solve it
Neville Southall recalls ’that save’ with Paul Joyce and discusses if the glory days can ever return to Goodison Park.

Paul Joyce, Northern Football Correspondent
November 1 2019, 5:00pm, The Times



Neville Southall took a trip down memory lane this week, conveniently arriving at an Everton fixture against Tottenham Hotspur in which the stakes were considerably higher than they are for the match between the two clubs on Sunday.
It was April 1985 and the destiny of the First Division title was on the line at White Hart Lane with the visitors boasting a three-point advantage over their hosts and closest rivals.

Everton had seen a 2-0 lead halved when Mark Falco, rising to meet a cross, powered a bullet header from six yards goalwards only for the attempt to be tipped miraculously over the crossbar by Southall.
It was a pivotal moment in propelling the club towards the championship, and at the other end of the pitch cameras caught Tottenham’s goalkeeper Ray Clemence sinking to his knees in disbelief.
Not everyone was as impressed.

“Rats [the centre back Kevin Ratcliffe] turned round to me on the pitch and said, ‘Don’t give corners away. You should have held it,’ ” Southall says with a smile.
“That was his way of grounding everyone, ‘Come on. We haven’t done anything yet. Let’s finish it.’ But I know he was proud of what I did and I was proud of what he did.”

The save is showcased in all its glory in a new film Everton — Howard’s Way, which charts a giddy ascent under Howard Kendall from adversity in the early 1980s to FA Cup winners, two league titles and the lifting of the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

It is a portrayal of a club who fought their way to the pinnacle of English football. Camaraderie and the squad’s mental resilience are clear, the connection with the manager also apparent, and underpinning everything is the quality of players such as Southall, Peter Reid, Kevin Sheedy and Graeme Sharp.
The contrast with Everton’s present crop, who host Spurs on Sunday, feels stark and raises the question whether the good times can ever return to Goodison Park?

Southall, now 61, is an optimist. He recalls the signing of Reid from Bolton Wanderers in 1982 having a transformative effect. “He came in and was all excited, like a little puppy,” Southall says. “He closed everyone down, made someone else do it and, before you knew it, everyone was doing it.”
He feels clarity of thought, communication over the position of the manager Marco Silva and a certain ambition are missing at his former club.

“That was a special time,” the former Wales international says. “We won’t get it back like that. Success now will be different because times have changed.
“But I’m convinced it will come back because you have someone in charge [Farhad Moshiri] who has a lot of money. Have we spent the money badly? We have, but it is a learning experience for him. He has never been an owner before.
“I just think the club needs to say a bit more. We know what our destination is — a new ground — and this is where we are now. But what’s our course?


“It seems to me that between now and then, we are trying to buy young players, turning them into a team so that we are a top-six side when we go to the stadium. We fill it, the money comes in and we use that.
“If you tell people what is going on, then they stick with it. Yet we seem to be putting the manager under more pressure by saying nothing.

“The players are not world class. They’re just not. So why are we surprised when they lose four games? Young players go up and down. I’m sure that he [Silva] hasn’t got the team he wants on the pitch. I hear people saying, ‘Get him out.’ OK, so you bring in the best manager in the world. How is he going to change it? With who?

“It also needs a clear signal from everybody to say we are sick to death of being told what we can’t do. For me, what Sam Allardyce said when he became manager summed it up. He said, ‘I’m going to save you from relegation.’ We were never going to get relegated, but he convinced everyone we could. He should have come in and said, ‘We are going to try and get in Europe.’ ”

Southall’s eyes light up when speaking about Kendall. His manager, who died in 2015, was an innovator and motivator supreme who emerged through difficult early years when cushions in the stands were hurled on the pitch in disgust at performances.

“Howard was clever because he knew everyone’s strengths,” he said. “He had six months having a go at me when I arrived. No matter how well I played, he would say, ‘Throw was bad, that kick was bad.’
“I thought, ‘I need to shut this fella up,’ and so I tried and tried and, towards the end of the season, he said, ‘Well played.’ He made me feel ten feet tall in that moment. It was nothing nasty. It’s just there was always a ‘but’. You can’t do that now because HR is in football.”


Southall’s tongue also became one of the most caustic in the dressing room, but lessons learnt in that environment serve him well today as he helps others on a variety of topics from mental health to LGBT rights having become a powerful voice on Twitter.
He has recently taken a suicide awareness course after receiving direct messages asking for help on the social media platform.

“You can also lift people with what you say,” he says. “I was at Everton for 17 years and I saw all sorts come through the door. As a goalkeeper you have to make those in front of you get on, so you have to know their personalities.

“Football is a good thing for mental health because it gives you an insight into everybody’s personality.

“I get people coming on saying they need help. Sometimes it is pretty desperate. I usually get one or two a month, all ages, and I just talk to them and DM them back.

“I have thought about retraining as a counsellor. I think my personality will help more than academic stuff on what is supposedly the right way to say things.”
•Everton — Howard’s Way is out on DVD and Digital from November 11
 
Greatest goalkeeper ever.

The only one who has come close to him was Schmeichel and I'm only acknowledging him here because of his longevity but you should all know by now about genius.
 

I'm a Liverpool fan an as such I realise you probably don't want my opinion on matters Evertonian so this will probably be my only post on this forum.

Neville Southall was, without doubt, one of the best keepers I was ever blessed to see. Supremely skillful and physically imposing. His physical strength was only matched by his mental strength. He played with an attitude that I can only describe as zero Fs given and no S taken.

His social media mark him out as a sound fella.

A giant of a man in every respect.
 

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