"Football is not a matter of life and death, it is more important than that."
Red
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Red, My autobiography, Gary Neville, London, Bantam Press, 2011. ISBN 9780593065594
At the end of the 2010-11 season an illustrious careers came to an end. Gary Neville had played 602 games for Manchester United and had ten Premier League medals to show for it.
Gary Neville sums up his career: “I’m proof of what can be achieved if you keep working”. A genuine modesty comes across in the way he talks about himself and the sacrifices he made to reach the top. “I was extreme, and I know others were different. Scholesy and Butty would go for a few pints in the week, sometimes even on a Friday. Becks, Casp and Ben always had girlfriends. But I knew my talent wasn’t at their level”.
One thing which surprised me was his ambivalence about playing for England. He loved playing for Man U but often found England not worth the hassle of the press, supporters etc. His assessment of England was very honest: “Three quarter-finals [2002, 2004, 2006] is a respectable record, and I’m not convinced we ever quite had the depth in our squad to win a major tournament”.
Aspects of the book which I particularly enjoyed included:
Insights into dressing room life and the brutal initiation of apprentices.
His thoughts on Eric Cantona: “None of us got to know Eric well, although there was a vast, unspoken respect for him. In training, if the ball didn’t get played to him as he wanted he would look at you like he was going to knock you out. He had massively high standards; he was a perfectionist. But because it was Eric, you didn’t feel belittled, it just made you strive to do better. We were desperate to impress him”.
His assessments of England managers. Eg Glenn Hoddle: “It’s been said before because it’s true: if only Glenn Hoddle had possessed the man-management skills to go with his undoubted football intelligence”.
The inside story of the 1999 treble and the aftermath: “There’s no denying that United failed to build on the Treble, at least where the Champions League was concerned. What a mistake that was – one of the biggest in my time at the club. I can see why it didn’t feel essential to go out and buy more players. We were champions of England and Europe But we had the chance to build a dynasty, and we squandered it”.
There is his account of the David Beckham boot in face incident. Sadly he was not present at battle of pizza! There is also his account of the threatened England players’ strike over Rio Ferdinand’s suspension.
In a two page section, Neville expresses concern at the gambling culture in professional football and the amount of money he has seen players lose.
And I bet you didn’t know that Gary Neville once shared an opening stand of 236 with Matthew Hayden for Greenmount in the Lancashire league!
Referring to an incident with “Our boss”, as Sir Alex is always called, Neville writes: “I’ve said ‘fuck off’ a million times to a lot of different people”. I would have enjoyed the book more if he had not felt the need to include the F word in the book quite so often
Whether you love or hate Manchester United, it is difficult not to have a certain respect for Gary Neville. In an era when loyalty and professional footballer are rarely used in the same sentence, it is pleasing to note two players who have played for only one club throughout their careers. I doubt if that will ever happen again.