Everton look set to offer Jordan Pickford a new long-term contract. But however long the England number one commits himself to the club, legendary goalkeeper Neville Southall’s seven-and-a-half year deal will take some beating.
At the end of last month, The Guardian reported that the Blues were to open talks with Pickford, with negotiations expected to run “smoothly”, while The Times have now reiterated this in an article that claims Goodison Park chiefs also plan to offer Anthony Gordon a new deal.
Pickford signed for Everton from Sunderland for £25million in 2017, initially penning a five-year contract. Having enjoyed an impressive debut campaign on Merseyside – picking up a hat-trick of gongs at the club’s ‘Dixies’ awards evening: Player of the Season; Players’ Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season – while establishing himself as first choice for his country and proving to be a penalty hero for the Three Lions at the World Cup finals, he was rewarded with improved terms in the shape of a new six-year deal in September 2018 that took him up to the summer of 2024.
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With the 28-year-old again one of the Blues’ most-consistent performers last term, and again named Everton Player of the Season after some stunning saves during the run-in as Frank Lampard’s side battled to beat the drop – most notably his stop to deny Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta that was named Premier League Save of the Season – the ECHO understands that the club are eager to get Pickford to commit himself into his 30s, beyond the move to their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, and toward a decade with them. While top flight goalkeepers tend to enjoy a longer footballing lifespan than their outfield colleagues, another remarkable aspect of Southall’s seven-and-a-half year contract was that it wasn’t actually signed until a couple of months after his 30th birthday.
After being plucked from Fourth Division Bury for a mere £150,000 in 1981, Southall had risen to first establish himself as Everton’s number one before winning the FA Cup in 1984, a brace of League Championships in 1985 and 1987 and European Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1985 with Howard Kendall’s side. In 1985, he was also named the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year and some 37 years on he remains the last goalkeeper to do so.
By the time Southall agreed his marathon deal, he was arguably at the peak of his powers and had long been widely-regarded as being the number one goalkeeper in the world. With Kendall having left for Athletic Bilbao after his second title triumph with Everton the previous year, his replacement Colin Harvey was trying to revamp the team. But while the new boss had splashed out some fresh faces in the summer of 1988 such as Tony Cottee, Pat Nevin, Stuart McCall and Neil McDonald, getting a quartet of the established old guard to all agree to new deals on the same day came as a major boost.
On the day that Cliff Richard’s Mistletoe and Wine moved to the top of the UK charts, Christmas came early for Evertonians in 1988 as on the eve of a Merseyside Derby against Liverpool (the Blues would even get their first penalty at Anfield since Dixie Dean converted back in 1935 as Wayne Clarke slotted home in front of the travelling fans to equalise in a 1-1 draw televised on ITV after David Burrows had tripped Trevor Steven), the ECHO revealed the quadruple signing. Southall, whose existing deal had two years to run, agreed terms for another seven-and-a-half years; captain Kevin Ratcliffe, who was set to become a free agent at the end of the season, penned a four-year deal, as did fellow centre-back Dave Watson, who had another two years to run, along with striker Graeme Sharp, who had a year to go.
A delighted Harvey said: “They are the backbone of the team, right down the middle, and it’s smashing that they all want to stay and play a part in our battle for honours.” For his part, Southall was illuminating as always when speaking to the Football ECHO the following weekend.
The Welshman said: “Obviously when you reach 30 you start to ask yourself, ‘what have I got?’ When the answer is, ‘nothing’, you have to do something about it. We’ve just had a little baby girl. It’s up to me to provide a future for her.
“That is mainly why I wanted to secure a long contract. The other reason is that I’m happy at Everton. Would I be as happy with another club?
“Obviously it goes through every player’s mind about playing for someone else. You look at other teams and think it would be great to play for them.
“But it doesn’t always work out that way. I thought to myself, if you were settled here, what is the point in moving?”
English clubs were banned from European competition at the time post-Heysel, something that tempted several top players and managers – such as Southall’s old boss Kendall – to move to the continent. So given that he was the best in the business in his position, was Southall tempted by the prospect of a potentially lucrative transfer abroad in an era before English clubs became the biggest payers? He said: “Not to Italy. Somewhere with a similar climate to Britain – like Germany – might be appealing.
“The Italians come across as very emotional. Here, we just get on with the job.”
Such dedication was one of Southall’s biggest strengths as one of the hardest-working trainers in football but he explained how he didn’t let the pressure get to him. He said: “Everyone has different habits on the day of a game.
“A lot of lads like to stay in bed, but that would make me feel terrible. I take my dogs out at least twice in the morning when we’ve got a home match.
“I’m more worried about who the Alsatians are going to bite than what might be in store for me in the afternoon! This is the way I relax, well away from the phone and football. I don’t need to think about the game until I actually arrive at the ground.”
Despite Southall’s settled nature at the time, come 1990 – what proved to be the final year of Harvey’s reign – he submitted three separate transfer requests and ended up being fined for a half-time sit-in against a Goodison Park goal post on the opening day of the 1990/91 season. The club even considered replacing him with Ahmed Shobier, bringing in the Egyptian World Cup player for a trial, but Southall would stay on though, playing his last game for Everton aged 39 on November 29, 1997 (a club record 751st, some 217 more than nearest challenger Brian Labone), almost 18 months after the date the contract signed back in December 1988 committed him to.
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