Former Everton shot stopper now works with underprivileged and needy communities across his homeland of Wales
Football legend Neville Southall has lashed out at sports stars for receiving honours – because real life carers are more deserving.
Southall, who was handed an MBE, reckons care home workers, who are “paid peanuts”, are overlooked for famous athletes and undervalued. The one-time Everton shotstopper has dedicated his post soccer life to working with underprivileged and needy communities across his homeland of Wales.
‘Big Nev’ admires how care home staff, family members and NHS staff tirelessly provide vital support to others in a cash strapped UK society and is in awe of their mental strength and dedication in often thankless and difficult circumstances.
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Rather than seek a career using his sports fame, the 67-year-old worked in social services, specifically focusing on working with troubled youth, mental health advocacy, and supporting marginalised groups .
Southall said: “I hate when I see sportspeople get MBEs. I’ve had one. For me, they [care home staff] are the people that should be getting the awards. It’s not for sports people.
“It’s easy when you’re a sports person to go like, ‘I’ll set up a charity’ because you’ve got the money. These people are going in every day. They should earn far more money than what they’re earning. The way things are that’s impossible.
“We tend to overlook all these type of people because we don’t see them and we don’t hear about them because they’re not trendy.
“It’s not trendy to go in and clean somebody up or get hit when the patients are frustrated. They cope with all of that with very little mental support.
“You’ve got to enjoy that work if you get paid peanuts and they get paid peanuts, to be fair, to do a fantastic job. I looked at it and thought, well, we’ve got all these people in these care homes of a certain age and all in different conditions.
“It takes a lot of mental strength to go in there every single day and not get thrown into that world really of a bit of depression really. But they were all fantastic. They dealt with the patients fantastically well, with the families really, really well. For me they’re the real people of the country.”
Nev works with Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council helping different sectors of the community overcome challenges.
“Like football, you don’t know what you’re walking into every day. I like the unpredictability. To me it was a bit like football. I went in every day. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.
“Them kids really should have had a better support all the way through the school. And they came to us with it because nobody else wanted to deal with them because the way the league tables work and the way other things work and the lack of everything else.
“So they came to us and they found a place where they felt safe. They were among similar people. I looked at them and I thought every one of them could do something, but we have to try and empower them to do it and get them to see that there’s a world for them and there’s a future for them.”
He told Radio 4: “I find them all the same. They all want a nice life. They want to improve themselves.”
