REPLACING A LEGEND

The second part of our exclusive interview with Neville Southall.

This week Blues legend Neville Southall sat down with evertontv to discuss the goalkeepers who have followed in his footsteps since he left the club in 1998.

Today, we bring you the second part of that interview as Neville reflects on the Goodison careers of Steve Simonsen and Richard Wright.

Steve Simonsen

Steve Simonsen joined Everton from Tranmere Rovers in September 1998 for £3.3 million - a then record transfer deal involving a British goalkeeper.

He made his first-team debut for the Blues in the 1999/2000 season in a Worthington Cup encounter with Oxford, making his Premier League bow at Southampton in 2000.

Following the arrival of Richard Wright, Steve's first-team opportunities became limited and he joined Stoke City on a free transfer in the summer of 2004. During his time at Goodison he made 37 appearances.

Simonsen is now back in the Premier League having helped Stoke to promotion from the Championship last term.

Southall : “Maybe it [a move to Everton] was a bit too early for Steve Simonsen. But again I don’t think he was too bad.

"Everton bought a few goalkeepers who potentially were quite good but not the finished article, so obviously they needed a bit of work. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.

“In Steve’s case he was technically good and now he’s back in the Premier League with Stoke - and it will be nice to see him back there. He’s got talent but there’s a difference between being the top, top and in the outside bracket of that. I think Paul [Gerrard], Thomas [Myhre] and Simmo are just below world class.

“You can only be what you can be, and, in all fairness to them, they were what they were. They weren’t quite up to this place [Everton]. Because this place can be daunting at the best of times. Even when you’re playing well it’s a daunting place because – with all due respect – if you play for Ipswich, or Norwich for example, people let you have a few bad games here and there, as long as you do alright on the whole. But here they want perfection every single week."

Richard Wright

Richard Wright was David Moyes' biggest summer signing in July 2002 in a deal worth £3.5 million, rising to £4.5 million on appearances.

A product of the Ipswich Town youth system, his form for the Tractor Boys attracted the attention of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger who paid £6million to take him to Highbury.

Wright failed to dislodge legendary stopper David Seaman however and decided to look elsewhere for regular first-team opportunities. Unfortunately, a succession of injuries meant he struggled to find them at Goodison Park and he was released at the end of the 2006-07 campaign. In total Wright played 71 times for the Toffees.

He is currently on the books at West Ham United.

Southall : “I think you had Richard Wright in Paul Gerrard. I didn’t quite see the sense in bringing Richard in because I thought Paul was as good, if not better than Richard.

“Paul had that experience of playing in the Premier League but I think Richard probably got found out at that level. Again he’d been at Ipswich where you could have a couple of worldies and then nothing for six months.

"Richard is a really talented goalkeeper but he couldn’t really make that step up to world class. It’s a shame.”