The binman chronicles

Considered among the greatest goalkeepers of all time and one of English football's defining figures over a career that spanned more than two decades, Neville Southall has for the first time decided to tell his extraordinary life story. For more than sixteen years Southall kept goal for Everton and Wales, becoming his club and country's greatest servant, as well as Everton's most decorated player.

Uncompromising, unorthodox and often unkempt, Southall's career followed an incredible trajectory: from football-mad binman, to the greatest goalkeeper in the world in the space of a few years. Now he lifts the lid on a career that saw him win virtually every major honour, offering a window not just on Everton's glory years and the rapidly changing landscape of British football, but also the latest chapter of his life - working with disadvantaged youths.

It is also a story of a time before the game was all about money; when a young player's love of the game and ceaseless commitment to excellence could see him rise to the very summit of world football. A reflective man with trenchant views on the direction of the modern game, Southall's amazing story is the ultimate antidote to the dull stereotype of the modern footballer.