Football: Everton's destiny in new hands

Simon Turnbull talks to a goalkeeping guru about the fight to save his club's status

Gold would be a welcome gift at Goodison Park, if not frankincense. For the time being, though, Evertonians are merely grateful that Myrhe arrived in time for Christmas. The surname of Everton's Norwegian goalkeeper, Thomas Myrhe, is actually pronounced closer to mire than myrrh, which seems equally apposite.

There could have been no other description of their plight five weeks ago, when the pounds 800,000 signing from Viking Stavanger clocked on for his first Saturday afternoon shift. He was only on bench duty that day, when Neville Southall conceded two second-half goals to Spurs at the Gwladys Street end and Peter Johnson's best hope of getting out of Goodison in one piece appeared to be in a Park Hamper.

Since then, the changing of the goalkeeping guard has given Everton's unpopular chairman a measure of short-term security. A run of five successive defeats has been followed by just one defeat in five matches, and that was at Old Trafford. Instead of entering the new year as condemned men, Everton have revived their Premiership survival hopes. They remain in a relegation position, third from bottom, but the top half of the table is only six points away.

It qualifies, in relative terms, as a transformation. And Myrhe must take much of the credit for effecting it it since replacing the venerable Southall, MBE, as the first name on the Everton team-sheet. He kept clean sheets in his first three games and has maintained his outstanding form in his last two matches, saving the Blues from a Boxing Day pummelling at Old Trafford and two points with a stunning late save against Bolton last Sunday. This afternoon Kenny Dalglish's stuttering Newcastle United team face the difficult prospect of trying to find a way past him in the third round of the FA Cup at Goodison.

The Newcastle manager will be hoping that the 24-year-old Norseman is not as good as his word. "I am pleased with the start I have made but I don't think I've hit my best form yet," Myrhe said. "I am still acclimatising. Coming to England has been a great challenge for me. It's a huge step forward in my career." It is also a step that may well lead to the World Cup finals.

Myrhe's Premiership form has earned him an invitation from Egil Olsen, the national coach, to join the Norwegian squad for two weekend training camps, to be held in England, in the next two months. "It is obviously my ambition to make the World Cup squad," Myhre said, "but my immediate target is to stay in the Everton team. I really did not expect to get my chance so quickly. I watched English football on television back home for many years and I have always admired Neville Southall. His record is tremendous."

After 750 senior games, though, Southall's long-playing Goodison record would appear to be over. He was signed for pounds 150,000 from Bury in 1981, the year Howard Kendall succeeded Gordon Lee as Everton manager. Now 39, he is on loan to Southend and has been available for a free transfer. Unlike Bobby Mimms, Southall's long-time understudy, and Paul Gerrard, who tried and failed to supplant him last season, Myrhe is unlikely to endure the pressure of having the goalkeeping Goodison legend waiting in the wings to reclaim the number one spot in the Everton team.

"It has probably been a little easier for Thomas in that he has been thrown in at the deep end straight away," Mervyn Day suggested. Day is the other significant signing Howard Kendall has made with regard to looking after number ones. "Goalkeeping coach" is a very loose description of the job he accepted on a three-and-a-half year contract two months ago. Goalkeeping manager would be more accurate. "The whole crux of the job is to ensure the club does not have to look outside the staff or development programme for future Everton keepers," Day said. "I look after all the keepers who come into the club, from the six-year-old Football in the Community players, right up to Neville at 39. Recruitment is part of my brief too. Already, we've started to overhaul our scouting system to ensure we can compete for the best young keepers.

"When you consider how much money clubs pay for a top notch goalkeeper it would save an awful lot of money if they could produce their own. Just look at Everton. Nobody can remember the last time we produced a keeper from the youth team. And I think clubs now realise the value of keepers. You never win anything - the Third Division championship, anything - unless you have a goalkeeper of top quality."

As a last line of England Under-23 quality, Day helped West Ham win the FA Cup in 1975. He also helped Leeds United win the championship of the old Second Division in 1990. As a manager, or "director of coaching" as Michael Knighton insisted on calling him, Day guided Carlisle United to promotion from the Third Division and to a Wembley victory in the final of the Auto Windscreens Shield last season. Being displaced by the megalomaniac Knighton just six games into the present campaign must have been a crushing blow to the former Hammer. Carlisle's loss, though, has been Everton's gain.

Day's first task was to watch a Pontins League match at Blackburn. Everton's reserve team lost 2-0 but Day advised his new boss to sign the trialist goalkeeper. And Howard Kendall must feel like he has struck gold by investing in Myrhe.