55 Facts About Neville Southall

Neville Southall was born on 16 September 1958 and is a Welsh former international footballer.

Neville Southall has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985.

Neville Southall made a handful of appearances for numerous other clubs.

Neville Southall is a member of the Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame.

Neville Southall has been named as one of the 100 'Greatest Players of the 20th Century' by World Soccer magazine.

Neville Southall has worked extensively with disadvantaged children, and set up his own educational consultancy.

Neville Southall is an international officer for his branch of the UNISON trade union, endorsed Jeremy Corbyn for the 2017 UK general election, endorses LGBT rights and has spoken at multiple events advocating for Welsh independence.

Neville Southall played youth football for his school team and the Llandudno Swifts, where he played alongside Joey Jones.

Neville Southall was educated at Ysgol John Bright, though left without any qualifications at age 16.

The Swifts were a poor side that were regularly beaten heavily, though the near constant barrage of shots he faced enabled Neville Southall to improve on his shot-stopping skills.

Neville Southall aspired to be a postman, and never believed that he would make a living playing football.

Neville Southall then worked as a binman, waiter and hod carrier and therefore entered the game relatively late.

Neville Southall moved on to Cheshire County League club Winsford United at the age of 20.

The club won the Cheshire Senior Cup in 1980, and Neville Southall was voted the club's Player of the Year.

Neville Southall's performances attracted the attention of Bury and Wigan Athletic, and he was convinced to sign with Bury after he was personally approached by manager Dave Connor.

Neville Southall kept 15 clean sheets after conceding 50 goals in his 44 domestic appearances, and was named as Bury's Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.

Neville Southall remained bitter over this, blaming UEFA for the tragedy and stating that the ban was a convenient way to break up English dominance of European competitions.

Neville Southall had missed the opening stages of the season after undergoing knee surgery.

Neville Southall was later told he needed surgery that would keep him out of action for eight months, but he instead sought out a back specialist who told him he simply had a "bad back" and found that the problem corrected itself.

Neville Southall famously sat down during a "sulking session" against a goalpost at half-time of the season opener whilst his teammates were still in the changing rooms while two goals down to newly promoted Leeds United ; Southall was fined two weeks wages despite denying it was a protest and that he simply did it to clear his head.

Neville Southall then received a phone call from Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, but Southall's hostile phone manner put Ferguson off the idea of signing him, and Ferguson instead bought Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.

Neville Southall saw that his teammates were reluctant to take a penalty in the match and so took the ball himself before Graham Stuart plucked up the courage to take the ball from him and convert the penalty.

Neville Southall then conceded just one goal in five games en route to the 1995 FA Cup Final against Manchester United.

Thomas Myhre took his place in goal, and Neville Southall rejected a coaching role at the club in order to search for first team football elsewhere.

In December 1997, Neville Southall went to Alvin Martin's Southend United of the Second Division on loan.

Neville Southall made 9 appearances in a brief stay at Roots Hall.

Neville Southall joined Chris Kamara's First Division Stoke City in February 1998.

Neville Southall was shocked by Durban's words and could not explain his attitude.

Neville Southall left the Britannia Stadium in the summer, and later said "one of the worst episodes of my life had drawn to a close".

Neville Southall signed with Wes Saunders's Torquay United of the Third Division in December 1998.

Neville Southall was named as Torquay's Player of the Year at the end of the season.

Neville Southall made a return to the Premier League by signing with Bradford City as a player-coach, helping to coach Aidan Davison, Matt Clarke and Gary Walsh.

Wales manager Mike England preferred Dai Davies in goal as Neville Southall began to play first team football at Everton, and Neville Southall only got a run of games once Davies retired.

Manager Terry Yorath was replaced by John Toshack, who stuck with Neville Southall but resigned after just 48 days after falling out with the Football Association of Wales.

Neville Southall applied for the vacant position, but Bobby Gould was chosen instead, who in turn named Neville Southall and Ian Rush as his assistants.

Neville Southall tried Danny Coyne, Andy Marriott and Tony Roberts in goal in friendly games, but selected Southall for the World Cup qualifying wins over San Marino.

Neville Southall conceded 126 goals, an average of 1.34 per match.

The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the only time until the end of his career that Wales qualified for a major tournament and the British Home Championship was played for the final time in 1984, therefore the majority of Neville Southall's caps came in friendlies or qualifying games.

Neville Southall was renowned for his shot-stopping ability, particularly in dealing with one-on-one situations, quickly coming off his line to intimidate the onrushing forward and relying on his instinctive reactions to save the ball.

Neville Southall was appointed manager of Conference club Dover Athletic in December 2001.

Neville Southall's managing stint at the Kent club was short and he was sacked in March 2002, after only a few months in charge, after the club's new owners decided to promote his assistant Clive Walker.

Neville Southall later made cameo appearances as a player at Canvey Island.

Neville Southall began teaching young people from deprived backgrounds how to coach in a community scheme called Soccer Skills, and later worked in the special education sector.

Neville Southall set up his own educational consultancy that specialised in working with NEETs, in partnership with Brooklands College.

Neville Southall admitted to having affairs over the course of the 18-year marriage, and left Eryl for another woman, an aromatherapist named Emma, in 1998.

Neville Southall is a teetotaller; this fact, coupled with his shy personality and dedication to football gave him a reputation as something of a loner.

In 2014 Neville Southall started working as a teaching assistant at Canolfan Yr Afon, the Pupil Referral Unit for Blaenau Gwent, based in Ebbw Vale, helping pupils with their job seeking and soft skills, and liaising with local businesses to arrange work placements.

Neville Southall had previously worked in a similar role in London.

Neville Southall is a member of the trade union UNISON and serves as international officer for his branch.

In May 2017, Neville Southall endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 UK general election.

Neville Southall is a prominent supporter of Welsh independence and has spoken at multiple events advocating for it.

Neville Southall holds numerous Everton club records, including: most league appearances, most FA Cup appearances, most League Cup appearances, and most clean sheets.

Neville Southall is named on the Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame.

Neville Southall was voted FWA Footballer of the Year in 1985, making him the last goalkeeper to be given the award.

Neville Southall was voted BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1995.