Exclusive: Neville Southall names the 'horrible word' Everton need to remember

Everton legend Neville Southall believes the current team are just a Peter Reid-style flash of inspiration from potentially turning their fortunes around.

Huyton-born Reid – whose Blues boss Howard Kendall would go on to claim was the club’s most important signing since the Second World War – was the subject of a £600,000 bid from Everton in the summer of 1980 when Gordon Lee was still in charge. While that offer was rejected, the midfielder who had recovered from two broken legs, torn knee ligaments and a cartilage operation, eventually made it back to Merseyside in December 1982.

In his book, Boys from the Blue Stuff: Everton’s rise to 1980s glory, Gavin Buckland recalls that Kendall snapped up Reid for just £50,000, not £60,000 as generally reported – that was Bolton’s original asking price – and that Everton famously had to change hands to get their hands on the cash. With funds currently tight again at Goodison Park and owner Farhad Moshiri having agreed to sell all his shares to 777 Partners subject to regulatory approval, manager Sean Dyche spoke regularly over the summer about director of football Kevin Thelwell’s need to construct deals but as the Blues go to Brentford this evening still searching for their first win of the Premier League season, Southall reckons they’re not actually far away from where they need to be.

He told the ECHO: “Once we get the whole squad back, the two wingers playing and we’re better up front, we can hopefully start scoring first and the load lifts off the whole team. At the moment, when they let a goal in, they feel the burden of the two relegation fights.

Everton plans Dele talks with Tottenham over terms of transfer as injury setback revealed

Jack Harrison makes injury return as