Last week, Gary Neville called time on his almost 20 year career with Manchester United and England, writes Ryan Keaney. With 602 career appearances for Manchester United and 85 caps for England, he retires from football as one of the greatest right backs to play in the Premier League and also one of the most polarising players in the recent history of the English game.
Born in Bury on February 18th 1975, Neville spent his whole career with his beloved Manchester United having joined them as a trainee aged just 14. He signed with the club as an apprentice upon leaving school in 1991 and captained the under-18 side to the FA Youth Cup in his first season. The now legendary side featured future internationals David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Robbie Savage and Keith Gillespie, and by the age of 16, Neville was already their leader and captain.
The following season, Neville made his first appearance for the senior side and by the start of the 1994/95 season he had ousted Paul Parker from the first eleven and established himself as the first choice rightback at the club. As part of Alex Ferguson’s youth-oriented side of the 1990s - Fergie’s Fledglings, an updated take on the 1950s equivalent the Busby Babes - Neville and his team-mates, which included his younger brother Phil, heralded a period of unprecedented success that is only now showing signs of slowing down.
Excellent defensively and a supplier of a decent cross when he got forward down the right wing, it wasn’t long before Neville was included in the England squad by Terry Venables. He made his debut during an international friendly with Japan in 1995 and by the time Euro ’96 rolled around he was first choice for country as well as club.
He went on to make more appearances for England than any other right back in history and played in five major tournaments, starting at Euro 96 and finishing with the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He currently holds the record for the most appearances by an outfield player without having scored a goal for England, a less than prestigious record that he took from Ray Wilkins.
In 2005, following the unceremonious departure of Roy Keane from Old Trafford, Neville was named as the club captain. His consistent and committed performances for the club made him a natural choice to replace the Irishman and in 2006 he lifted his first trophy as captain: the Carling Cup. The trophy had been the one club medal that had previously eluded him.
Neville retires with a haul of eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two European Cups, an Intercontinental Cup, a FIFA World Club Cup, and one League Cup to his name, although it may be some of his non-playing actions for which he is most remembered.
Thanks to his tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve at almost every occasion, Neville was never far from making enemies with the opposition and their fans. He constantly came up with reasons to give fans a reason to dislike him.
Most famously, Neville’s vocal and competitive nature landed him in hot water thanks to a pitch-sprinting, badge-clenching, fist-pumping celebration after a last-minute winner by Rio Ferdinand against Liverpool in 2006. He was charged with improper conduct by the FA and fined £5,000 although he refused to accept that he had done anything wrong:
“I would have been apologetic if I had run up to one of their players and tried to belittle them but this was a celebration. You are caught up in the moment and… go bananas. What are you meant to do? Smile sweetly and jog back to the halfway line? No disrespect to Liverpool was intended. Last week, I had to put up with a Liverpool lad taunting our fans during the Manchester derby but at no point did I even consider that Robbie Fowler should be punished. I have to put up with Liverpool fans singing plenty of songs about me, none of them tasteful, and I struggle to believe that I have caused them any grave offence with an exuberant celebration.”
In recent years, Neville has struggled through a series of injuries. In 2007 an ankle injury sidelined him for a whole season and though he returned to first team action, he has never been the same player. A series of injuries affected Neville so badly that he relinquished his role as on-field captain in September, although Alex Ferguson was quick to insist that Neville remained skipper off the pitch.
Such was his enduring importance around the club that an extension of his current deal was expected to be offered in the coming weeks. Instead, he has retired with immediate effect. His last appearance was against West Bromwich Albion on New Year’s Day 2011, a 2–1 victory at The Hawthorns.
Gary Neville will be missed by the Premier League, not only by the Old Trafford faithful that he delighted for close to 20 years but also by the referees who will enjoy a slightly easier time without him in their ear. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll be miss by a few opposing fans as well.
Tags: England National Team, Gary Neville, Manchester United