Coordinates: 51°30′44″N 0°22′40″W / 51.5121°N 0.3779°W / 51.5121; -0.3779

Southall
Southall Manor House
Southall  Southall shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ125805
- Charing Cross	10.7 mi (17.2 km)  W
London borough	Ealing
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SOUTHALL
Postcode district	UB1, UB2
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Ealing Southall
London Assembly	Ealing and Hillingdon
List of places: UK • England • London

Southall is a large suburban district of west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated 10.7 miles (17.2 km) west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.^[1]

Southall is located on the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) which first linked London with the rest of the growing canal system. It was one of the last canals to carry significant commercial traffic (through the 1950s) and is still open to traffic and is used by pleasure craft.

The town has one of the largest concentrations of South Asian people outside of the Indian sub-continent.

Toponymy[link]

The name Southall derives from the Anglo-Saxon dative æt súð healum, "At the south corner (of the land or wood)" and súð heal, "South corner" and separates it from Northolt which was originally norþ heal, "North corner" which through a later association with Anglo-Saxon holt, "Wood, copse" developed into Northolt.^{[citation needed]}

The district of Southall has many other Anglo-Saxon place-names such as Elthorne and Waxlow. Its earliest record, from ad 830, is of Warberdus bequeathing Norwood Manor and Southall Manor to the archbishops of Canterbury.^{[citation needed]}

History[link]

Southall formed part of the chapelry of Norwood in the ancient parish of Hayes, in the Elthorne hundred of Middlesex.^[2] For Poor Law it was grouped into the Uxbridge Union and was within Uxbridge Rural Sanitary District from 1875. The chapelry of Norwood had functioned as a separate parish since the Middle Ages. On 16 January 1891 the parish adopted the Local Government Act 1858 and the Southall Norwood Local Government District was formed. In 1894 it became the Southall Norwood Urban District.^[2] In 1936 the urban district was granted a charter of incorporation and became a municipal borough, renamed Southall.^[3] In 1965 the former area of the borough was merged with that of the boroughs of Ealing and Acton to form the London Borough of Ealing in Greater London.^[4]

The southern part of Southall (roughly south of the railway) used to be known as Southall Green (and a section of the main north-south road in the area is still called The Green) and was centred on the historic Tudor-styled Manor House^[5] which dates back to at least 1587. Little of the building is original but much dates back to the days when Southall Green was a quiet rural village. It is currently used as serviced offices.^[6]

The extreme southernmost part of Southall is known as Norwood Green. It has few industries and is mainly a residential area, having remained for many years mainly agricultural whilst the rest of Southall developed industrially. Norwood Green borders, and part is inside, the London Borough of Hounslow.

A tram from Hayes in the Broadway c.1905

The main east west road through the town is Uxbridge Road (A4020), though the name changes in the main shopping area to The Broadway and for an even shorter section to High Street. Uxbridge Road was part of the main London to Oxford stagecoach route for many years and remained the main route to Oxford until the building of the Western Avenue highway to the north of Southall in the first half of the 20th century. First horse drawn, then electric trams (until 1936) and, then, electric trolleybuses, gave Southall residents and workers quick and convenient transport along Uxbridge Road in the first half of the 20th century before they were replaced by standard diesel-engined buses in 1960.^[7]

Nineteenth century[link]

The opening of the Grand Junction Canal (later renamed Grand Union Canal) as the major freight transport route between London and Birmingham in 1796 began a commercial boom, intensified by the arrival of Brunel's Great Western Railway in 1839, leading to the establishment and growth of brick factories, flour mills and chemical plants which formed the town's commercial base. In 1877, the Martin Brothers set up a ceramics factory in an old soap works next to the canal and until 1923, produced distinctive ceramics now known and collected as Martinware.

A branch railway line from Southall railway station to the Brentford Dock on the Thames was also built by Brunel in 1856. It features one of his (impressive for the period) engineering works, the Three Bridges where Windmill Lane, the railway and the Grand Union Canal all intersect – the canal being carried over the railway line in a metal trough. It is listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The other notable local construction by Brunel is the Wharncliffe Viaduct which carries the Great Western Railway across the River Brent towards London and which was Brunel's first major structural design.

Otto Monsted, a Danish margarine manufacturer, built a large factory at Southall in 1894. The factory was called the Maypole Dairy, and eventually grew to become one of the largest margarine manufacturing plants in the world, occupying a 28 hectares (69 acres) site at its peak. The factory also had its own railway sidings and branch canal. The Maypole Dairy Company was later acquired by Lever Brothers who, as part of the multinational Unilever company, converted the site to a Wall's Sausages factory which produced sausages and other meat products through until the late 1970s.

Twentieth century[link]

The Quaker Oats Company built a factory in Southall in 1936. Part of the operation that made pet foods was sold to Spiller's in 1994, and the remainder to Big Bear Group in 2006. The site continues to produce brands such as Sugar Puffs. Other engineering, paint and food processing factories prospered for many years, mostly alongside the railway and/or canal. A collection of Martinware – salt-glazed stoneware, and birds – is on display at Southall Library.

On the eastern boundary of Southall was the Hanwell Asylum, once the world's largest asylum for the mentally ill. It was considered in its day to be a progressive institution with a good success rate for treatment. As attitudes to and treatment for mental illness improved, the site was renamed St. Bernard's Hospital. In the late 1970s, the site was extensively redeveloped, with most of the area now taken up by the Ealing Hospital. St. Bernard's still operates a large facility on part of the site under the West London Mental Health (NHS) Trust.

Southall was the home of Southall Studios, one of the earliest British film studios. It played a historic role in film-making from its creation in 1924 to its closure in 1959. In 1936, a fire destroyed the studio but it was rebuilt and enlarged. Numerous feature films (many featuring famous or later-to-be-famous actors) and the early TV series Colonel March of Scotland Yard were made at the studios, as were TV and cinema adverts.^[8]

There has been a locomotive works at the Southall Depot for nearly 150 years. Originally a Great Western Railway shed, it was possibly the last London steam depot, outlasting Old Oak Common and Stewarts Lane depots. The depot was later used for DMU maintenance and as a base for the electrification programme. Currently the site, now referred to as the Southall Railway Centre, is used by three independent groups, including Locomotive Services (where volunteers can contribute to the preservation and restoration of mainline locomotives) and the Great Western Railway Preservation Group.

Glassy Junction pub, November 2005

The bus and commercial vehicle manufacturer Associated Equipment Company (AEC) was based in Southall, on a 25 hectares (62 acres) triangular site between Windmill Lane, the main Great Western Railway and the branch to Brentford Dock. The company moved there from Walthamstow in 1926 and closed in 1979 after losing market share whilst part of the giant but inefficient British Leyland group. The site was noticeable for railway passengers due to a large sign saying "Builders of London's Buses for 50 years". A major gas works manufacturing town gas was located between the railway and the canal. Since production ceased in the 1970s, much of the 36 hectares (89 acres) site has been vacant, due to limited road access and remaining gas infrastructure.

During World War II Southall was the target of enemy bombing on a number of occasions. A German V-1 flying bomb destroyed a number of houses in Regina Road, killing the occupants.^[9] Bomb shelters and bunkers were built during the war, close to or under most schools and public buildings. The bunkers at Hamborough Primary School were expanded during the Cold War, to become the North West Group War HQ for the London area Civil Defence organisation and the London Borough of Ealing Emergency Control Centre. This facility is now disused.^[10]

On 2 September 1958 at 7:10 am, a pilot of a Vickers Viking V624 (G-AIJE), which had just taken off from Heathrow Airport, reported that he had engine trouble. Some minutes later it crashed onto houses in Kelvin Gardens. It was on a cargo flight carrying aero engines to Tel Aviv and carried no passengers, however the three crew members and four people on the ground were killed. One of the surviving occupants, 14-year-old Brian Gibbons, was later awarded the George Medal for bravery, as well as the Carnegie Award.^[11] The accident was due to poor maintenance, and caused the company, Independent Air Travel, to fail in October 1959.^[12]

On 23 April 1979, Blair Peach, a teacher and anti-racist activist, was killed after police knocked him unconscious during a protest against the National Front (NF).^[13][14] Another demonstrator, Clarence Baker – a singer of the reggae band Misty in Roots, remained in a coma for five months.^[15] More than 40 others — including 21 police — were injured, and 300 were arrested.^[16]

On 4 July 1981, a race riot was sparked at the Hambrough Tavern on the Broadway.^[17] Local Asian youths mistakenly believed that a concert featuring the Oi! bands The Business, The Last Resort and The 4-Skins was a white power event.^[18] Additionally, the venue had recently been sued for barring non-white customers, and local youths had heard that skinheads arriving for the concert had harassed other youths and women.^[19] More than 200 skinheads had travelled by bus from East London, and a few of them smashed shop windows,^{[20][page needed]} wrote NF slogans around the area,^[21] and shouted neo-Nazi slogans while using bricks and clubs to attack Asian youths who had gathered in opposition to the gig. This was one of several high-profile riots in Britain that year.

Although some of the skinheads were NF or British Movement supporters, among the 500 or so concert-goers were also left-wing skinheads, black skinheads, punk rockers, rockabillies and non-affiliated youths.^[22] A few of the approximately 300 Asians threw petrol bombs and other objects, and five hours of rioting left 120 people injured — including 60 police officers — and the tavern burnt down.^[17][23]

The Southall rail crash occurred on 19 September 1997 when a mainline high speed express train from Swansea to London Paddington ran a red signal, when the driver's attention was distracted, and it collided with a goods train just outside Southall railway station. Seven people died and 139 were injured.

Culture[link]

This section contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

Southall Broadway, November 2005

Station sign in English and in Punjabi, in the Gurmukhī alphabet

Southall is primarily a South Asian residential district, sometimes known as "Little India".^{[24][25][26][27][28]} In 1950, the first group of South Asians arrived in Southall, reputedly recruited to work in a local factory owned by a former British Indian Army officer. This South Asian population grew, due to the closeness of expanding employment opportunities such as London Heathrow Airport. The most significant cultural group to settle in Southall are Asians. According to the Commission for Racial Equality, over 55% of Southall's population of 70,000 is Indian/Pakistani.^[29][30] There are ten Sikh Gurdwaras in Southall and one of them won the Ealing Civic Society Architectural Award in 2003. The Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, which opened in 2003, is one of the largest Sikh temples outside India. There are two large Hindu 'Mandir' temples, the Vishnu Hindu Mandir on Lady Margaret Road and the Ram Mandir in Old Southall. There are more than ten Christian churches including 5 Anglican, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist and several Pentecostal or Independent. There are three Mosques 'Masjids' in Southall, the Abubakr Mosque situated on Southall broadway, the Central Jamia Masjid Mosque and the Jamia Masjid Islamic Centre.^[31]

In addition, the signs on the main railway station are bilingual in English and Punjabi.

Earlier, in the 1920s and 1930s Southall was the destination of many Welsh migrants escaping from the harsh economic conditions in that part of the country. For many years, Welsh accents were very commonplace in the area.^[32]

The main street in Southall is called The Broadway. Southall contains the largest Asian shopping centre in the London area. Southall was the main location for the internationally acclaimed film Bend It Like Beckham.

Southall has a large gas tower which is noticeable from a great distance. Painted on the gas tower are "LH" in large letters and an arrow that denoted to aircraft pilots the direction to nearby London Heathrow Airport by visual flight rules (VFR) if landing on the now closed Runway 23. This was painted on the tower after a number of pilots became confused between Heathrow and the nearby RAF Northolt which has a much shorter runway. One Boeing 707 landed at Northolt by mistake^[33] and a number of other pilots were en route there when warned off by air traffic control.

Southall is also the location of the Glassy Junction public house, which has now closed down and its future is unsure. Southall has many well known restaurants such as Chaudhry's TKC, established in 1965 was one of the first Punjabi restaurants in the UK. Jelabi Junction is internationally famous for its freshly cooked jelabi, a batter fried in oil and quick dipped in sugar syrup.

Southall has also appeared in other Bollywood films as well, including Patiala House and Goal!.

There is now a local community radio station servicing Southall; Westside 89.6 FM, licensed by Ofcom as part of their drive towards community-based radio services.

Misty in Roots began life as a Southall-based British roots reggae band in the early 1970s.

Sport and leisure[link]

The local football club Southall F.C. has a long history, having been formed in 1871. In 2007/08 they played in the Middlesex County League Division One (Central & East).

Notable people associated with Southall[link]

Musicians[link]

• H Dhami, Bhangra singer, who is signed to Rishi Rich's label Rishi Rich Productions
• Urban Music producers Panjabi Hit Squad all grew up in Southall.
• Ms Scandalous, a rapper/MC, was born in Southall in 1983.
• Juggy D, a bhangra singer.
• Chris Highton, musician and radio presenter was educated at Southall Grammar School (now Villiers High School) in the 1960s.^[34][35]
• Cleo Laine, a jazz singer and actress, was born in Southall in 1927 and brought up in Clarence Street. She attended Featherstone Road School.
• Rishi Rich, music producer.
• Misty in Roots, reggae band, started life in the area.
• Jay Sean or Kamaljeet Singh Jhooti (birth name), R&B singer, was raised here.
• Kuljit Bhamra composer, record producer and musician was educated at Southall Grammar School (now Villiers High School). His recording studio is in Southall where he produced many Bhangra hits for local Southall bands during the 1980s and where he continues to produce music.
• The Ruts A Punk band from the late '70s were all from Southall

Authors and poets[link]

• Mike Ashley, author and editor.
• Kwame Kwei-Armah, playwright and actor.
• Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon, poet.
• Tim Lott, author (his debut The Scent Of Dried Roses is about growing up in Southall) was born here in 1956.
• Harjeet Atwal, author

Television and film[link]

• Daljit Dhaliwal, newsreader and journalist
• Nick Knowles, television personality;
• Actress Hayley Mills lived at Friars Lawn, a historic house at Norwood Green, Southall, in the late 1970s to 1980.^[36]
• Gurinder Chadha OBE, noted British film director. The Southall area is the setting for many of her films involving the British Asian community.
• Stewart Bevan, actor, screenwriter, lyricist and poet grew up in Southall.
• Elisabeth Sladen, actress best known for playing Sarah Jane Smith in the sci-fi series Doctor Who died in Southall in April 2011.

Politicians[link]

• Sir Leslie Murphy (1915–2007) was born in Southall and educated at Southall Grammar School (now Villiers High School). He became a prominent businessman, merchant banker, influential civil servant and a founder member of the Social Democratic Party. He was knighted in 1978.^[37]
• Syd Bidwell represented Southall in parliament from 1966–1992, succeeded by Piara Khabra from 1992–2007 and Virendra Sharma from 2007 onwards. Radio station owner Avtar Lit stood as a parliamentary candidate; his son Tony Lit followed in his footsteps, standing in the 2007 by-election.

Others[link]

• Les Ferdinand, England footballer, once played for Southall FC
• Trevor Baylis OBE, the inventor of the Clockwork Radio grew up in the suburb.
• Carole Middleton, mother of The Duchess of Cambridge

Local landmarks[link]

• Gasometer which is 320 feet (98 m) high, making it visible from a great distance. It was brought into service in 1932. It has two very large letters "LH" and an arrow painted on it which was used to denote to aircraft pilots the direction to nearby London Heathrow Airport using visual flight rules (VFR) if landing on the now closed runway 23. This was painted on the tower after a number of pilots became confused between Heathrow and the nearby RAF Northolt which has a much shorter runway. One Boeing 707 landed at Northolt by mistake^[33][38] and a number of other pilots were en route there when warned off by air traffic control.

• Wharncliffe Viaduct. An imposing structure 300 yards (270 m) and 65 feet (20 m) high. Situated the north side of Uxbridge Road on the boundary with Hanwell.

• Manor House, The Green, Southall, UB2 4BJ

• Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Three Bridges.

• Golf Links Estate, almost burned down in 1997 & 2008. A 1960's housing development, at one time had the highest crime rate in the Ealing borough.

• Naval gun on the junction of Tentelow Lane with Windmill Lane.

Landmarks of Southall

Redbrick water tower (now converted into apartments) with Southall Gas Works gas holder behind   A naval gun that was at the Threebridges, Former part of the Outer London Defence Ring   The Manor, Southall.   Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara   Wharncliffe Viaduct, viewed from the south side   Himalaya Palace Cinema

External images
	Southall gasometer in skyline[39]

Political representation[link]

Southall is part of the parliamentary constituency of Ealing Southall, represented since 2007 by Labour Member of Parliament Virendra Sharma.

Southall is made up of five electoral wards for local council elections: Dormers Wells, Lady Margaret, Norwood Green, Southall Broadway and Southall Green, which all elect councillors to Ealing Council.

Southall is in the London Assembly constituency of Ealing and Hillingdon which has one assembly member: Richard Barnes (Conservative), who was re-elected in May 2008.

Transport and locale[link]

Neighbouring areas of London:

	Yeading	Greenford	Hanwell
	Hayes		West Ealing
		Southall    East
	Heston	Norwood Green	Osterley

Southall is served by Southall railway station on the Great Western Main Line, providing links to Heathrow Airport, Reading and Oxford as well as London Paddington.

There is no London Underground station in Southall, the nearest one to the town centre being Osterley station, on the Piccadilly line, which is located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) to the south.

Frequent bus services link Southall with all neighbouring suburbs and London Heathrow Airport.

There is an express coach service between Southall, Leicester and Birmingham which specialises in serving the many family connections in both areas' South Asian populations.

See also[link]

• Blair Peach, anti-racist campaigner was killed in a demonstration in Southall on Monday 23 April 1979.
• Southall rail crash
• Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College which has a campus on Beaconsfield Road in Southall.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• British History Online: 'Norwood, including Southall: Introduction', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4 (1971)
• Southall Town Hall
• UK Polling Report Guide to the Ealing Southall constituency

External links[link]

• Local mobile resource
• Image of the Gas tower with "LH" written on the side
• Southall in World War II
• visit THE SOUTHALL STORY website

v t e London Borough of Ealing Districts Acton Acton Green Bedford Park Dormers Wells Ealing (including Brentham Garden Suburb and Pitshanger) East Acton Greenford Hanwell North Acton Northolt Norwood Green Park Royal Perivale South Acton Southall West Acton West Ealing Yeading Attractions Hoover Building London Motorcycle Museum Museum of Asian Music Pitzhanger Manor Gallery and House Wharncliffe Viaduct Parks and open spaces Acton Park Ealing Common Northala Fields Southall Park Walpole Park Constituencies Ealing Central and Acton Ealing North Ealing Southall Tube and railway stations Acton Central railway station Acton Main Line railway station Acton Town Boston Manor Castle Bar Park railway station Chiswick Park Drayton Green railway station Ealing Broadway station Ealing Common Greenford Hanger Lane Hanwell railway station North Acton North Ealing Northfields Northolt Northolt Park railway station Park Royal Perivale South Acton railway station Southall railway station South Ealing South Greenford railway station Sudbury Town West Acton West Ealing railway station Other topics People Public art Schools Parks and open spaces in Ealing

Neville Southall

Personal information
Full name	Neville Southall
Date of birth	(1958-09-16) 16 September 1958 (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
2001	Shrewsbury Town	0	(0)
2001	Dover Athletic
2001–2002	Shrewsbury Town	0	(0)
2002	Dagenham & Redbridge	0	(0)
Total		701	(0)
National team
1982–1997	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 Welsh former international footballer. He has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985.^[2] He was awarded the MBE in 1995 for his services to football.

After joining Bury from Winsford United for £6,000 in 1980, he moved on to Everton for £150,000 the following year. He went on to make a club record 578 appearances in the Football League and Premier League (750 in all competitions); his honours with the club include a European Cup Winners' Cup medal in 1985, a First Division championship medal in 1984–85 and 1986–87, an FA Cup winners medal in 1984 and 1995, and an FA Charity Shield winners medal in 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1995. He also played in the 1985 and 1989 FA Cup finals, the League Cup final in 1984, and helped Everton to second place in the league in 1985–86. After leaving Everton in 1998, he became Torquay United's regular goalkeeper for two years. He also made a handful of appearances for numerous other clubs. He played internationally for Wales, winning a record 92 caps between 1982 and 1998; despite this he did not feature in any major international competitions. According to the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, he played a total of 979 competitive matches for club and country.

As an individual, he was named on the PFA Team of the Year four consecutive times, and was listed as one of the world's top ten goalkeepers by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics on four occasions. He is a Hall of Famer of Gwladys Street's and English Football. He has been named as one the 100 'Greatest Players of the 20th Century' by World Soccer magazine.

Since his retirement as a player, Southall has briefly managed Dover Athletic and Hastings United, and has coached the Welsh national youth teams.

Early life[link]

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.^[2] He was educated at Ysgol John Bright.^[2]

As a teenager, Southall had unsuccessful trials at Crewe Alexandra and Bolton Wanderers.^[2] He then worked as a binman, waiter and hod carrier and therefore entered the game relatively late.^[3] He played his football at Llandudno Swifts, Conwy United, Bangor City, and Winsford United.^[2]

Playing career[link]

Club career[link]

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.^[4]

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,^[5] 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[link]

His 92 Welsh caps are a national record, he conceded 126 goals, for an average of 1.34 per match.^[6] 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.

Style of play[link]

Southall was renown 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 tremendous reflexes to save the ball.^[7]

Coaching and management career[link]

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 Knattspyrnufélagið Fram in Iceland.^[8] 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.^[9] His managing stint at the Kent club was short and he was sacked in March 2002, after only a few months in charge.^[10]

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."^[11]

A month after resigning from the national scene, Southall returned to management with Hastings United.^[12] 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".^[13]

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.^[14]

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[link]

Southall teaches academy football for ten hours a week at Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury, Kent, and has also taught tennis and cross country running. He is due to release his autobiography in August 2012.^[3] In March 2012 he set up a web site where people can e-mail him for 49 GBP or have an hour phone conversation for 99 GBP.^[15]

Legacy[link]

In December 2004 he was voted as the Everton's all-time cult hero.^[16] He holds numerous of Everton's club records, including: most league appearances (578), most FA Cup appearances (70), most League Cup appearances (65), and most clean sheets (269). His 750 appearances in all competitions are 216 more than Brian Labone, the man with the second most appearances for the club. He is named on the Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame. Everton fans also voted him into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2008. In 1998 he was named as one of the Football League 100 Legends. His 92 caps for Wales are also a record. In 1999, World Soccer magazine named him joint 95th (with László Kubala) in the 'Greatest Players of the 20th Century'.^[17] In the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper rankings he was listed 5th in 1987, 7th in 1988, 9th in 1989, and 4th in 1991. He was voted FWA Footballer of the Year in 1985, making him the last goalkeeper to be given the award. He was voted BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1995.

Honours[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Neville Southall

• 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