 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gary Alexander Neville | ||
| Date of birth | 18 February 1975 | ||
| Place of birth | Bury, Greater Manchester, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1][2] | ||
| Playing position | Right-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1991–1992 | Manchester United | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1992–2011 | Manchester United | 400 | (5) |
| National team | |||
| 1995–2007 | England | 85 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is a former English footballer. He is England's most capped right-backand was Manchester United's club captain for five years.
Neville spent his entire playing career at Old Trafford, making him a rare one-club man. At the time of his retirement, he was United's second longest serving player in the squad, behind his long-time team-mate Ryan Giggs. Neville retired in 2011.
He made his international debut in 1995 and was first-choice right-back for club and country for more than ten years.
He is the brother of Premier League footballer and Everton captain Phil Neville, who was also a Manchester United player (from 1993 until 2005). His sister Tracey Neville plays netball for England, his mother Jill is a receptionist for Bury.
The older of the Neville brothers joined Manchester United as an apprentice upon leaving school in 1991, and captained the youth side to FA Youth Cup glory in his first season. He made his senior debut for United in September 1992 againstTorpedo Moscow in the UEFA Cup. Neville emerged as part of Alex Ferguson's youth-oriented side of the 1990s (nicknamedFergie's Fledglings, an updated take on the 1950s equivalent Busby Babes) that included his brother Phil, Ryan Giggs,David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes. In the 1994–95 season, he became first-choice right-back when Paul Parkerwas ruled out by injury, and has remained so ever since, although in his first season as a regular player he often found himself on the sidelines as Denis Irwin was switched to right back with Lee Sharpe (normally a winger) filling the left-back role.
Manchester United
"Gary was the best English right-back of his generation."
– Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson on Neville.
He formed a partnership with Beckham on the right wing, regularly contributing assists.
In January 2006, his actions were the subject of some controversy after his celebration in front of the visiting Liverpool fans atOld Trafford, when he was seen to run from the half-way line towards the opposing fans to celebrate the 90th minute injury-time winning headed goal by United defender Rio Ferdinand.[5] His actions were criticised by Liverpool and fellow England defender Jamie Carragher, sections of the media and police who blamed him for disturbances between fans after the game. He was subsequently charged with improper conduct by The Football Association. Neville contested this, asking if it was preferable for players to act like "robots" and show no emotions. He was fined £5,000 and warned about his future conduct.[6]
Neville won eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two European Cups, an Intercontinental Cup, a FIFA Club World Cup, and one League Cup, the last of which was his first trophy as captain.
Neville recovered from an injury suffered against Bolton Wanderers in March 2007 and in his first match back, a reserve game against Everton in January 2008, he scored a rare goal in the 21st minute of the game which helped Manchester United to a 2–2 draw.[7]
On 9 April 2008, Neville made his long-awaited comeback against Roma in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford as an 81st-minute substitute for Anderson. Neville was welcomed back to the pitch with a standing ovation, and was promptly given the captain's armband. It was Neville's 99th Champions League appearance. However, he was not selected for the European Cup final squad on 21 May, though he did join in with the post-match celebrations after United won on penalties following a 1–1 draw with Chelsea. Instead, Rio Ferdinand and Giggs lifted the trophy together having shared the captaincy during Neville's absence.
Neville started his first game in seventeen months when he captained Manchester United for the 2008 FA Community Shield against Portsmouth on 10 August 2008. He then made another start against Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Super Cup, before making his first start at home since his injury against Villarreal in the opening group game of the UEFA Champions League 2008–09. On 21 September 2008, Neville started his first league game in almost 18 months when he played against Chelsea. Neville extended his stay at Old Trafford until June 2010.[8]
On 27 October 2009, Neville was sent off for a tackle on Adam Hammill in United's 2–0 away win against Barnsley in the League Cup Fourth Round. He has played in an unfamiliar role at centre back due to a long-term injury to Rio Ferdinand and various minor injuries to Nemanja Vidić and Jonny Evans.
Neville added another medal to his honours list on 28 February 2010 when he came on as a substitute in the League Cup final win over Aston Villa. He did feature in enough league games to qualify for what would have been his ninth title medal, but United were beaten to the Premier League title by Chelsea who finished ahead of them by a single point.
Having made only sporadic appearances in the last couple of seasons, Neville stepped down as team captain in September 2010 in preference of a more-regular first-team player, usually Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić or Patrice Evra, although he remained as club captain off the pitch.[9]
His first squad number at Manchester United was number 27, which was issued to him when squad numbers were launched in the Premier League for the 1993–94 season. For the 1995–96 season, however, he was issued with the number 20 shirt which had been vacant since the departure of Dion Dublin the previous autumn. A year later however, the departure of Paul Parker enabled Neville to take up the number 2 shirt which he has held ever since.
On 2 February 2011, Neville announced his retirement from football after almost 20 years playing at Manchester United.[10] Neville's final professional appearance was againstWest Bromwich Albion on New Year's Day 2011, a 2–1 victory at The Hawthorns.[4][11]
His testimonial will be played at Old Trafford against Juventus of Italy on 24 May 2011.[12]
International career
Neville made his first appearance for England in 1995 when he was picked by Terry Venables for the friendly against Japan. On 23 May 1996, he was joined in the England team by his brother Phil Neville for a match against China; they had also appeared together in the 1996 FA Cup Final two weeks earlier and thus were the first pair of brothers to play together in an FA Cup-winning side and for England in the same season since Hubert and Francis Heron in 1877, 119 years earlier.[13]
He was subsequently selected at right back for his country by five different coaches. The form of Manchester City's Micah Richards, Liverpool's Glen Johnson and Neville's Manchester United team-mate Wes Brown placed his position in the England team under threat in the latter years of his career.
He had been the youngest first choice player in the England first team during Euro 96, his first tournament, playing in each game until the semi-final, when he was suspended and England were subsequently knocked out by eventual winners, Germany. He also played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. A broken foot put paid to his hopes of playing the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but he quickly returned to the side after regaining his fitness, and was once again the first choice right back by the time of Euro 2004.
Neville missed the latter stages of the qualification campaign for the 2006 World Cup with injury. He returned to the England team in March 2006 for a friendly against Uruguay.
Neville was selected for England's 2006 World Cup squad. He played in England's opening Group B game against Paraguay but pulled his calf in training the night before the team's second game and was forced to miss the next three games until playing the full match in England's losing quarter-final against Portugal on 1 July. It was his 81st England cap, bringing him up to ninth in the all-time rankings, ahead of Gary Lineker and team-mate Michael Owen, who had briefly drawn level with Neville during the World Cup.
Neville briefly took over the England captaincy during this game after the substitution of David Beckham due to an injury shortly after half-time, despite the previous match's deputy captain John Terry also being on the field.
After the defeat to Portugal, Neville announced that he would continue to be available for selection for his country under new coach Steve McClaren and added that, unlike some former international team-mates, he would not ever make the decision to retire from the England set-up, stating: "That decision is not Gary Neville's to make". As one of three club captains (along with Terry and Steven Gerrard) in the first choice England line-up, he was mentioned as a contender for the England captaincy which Beckham vacated after elimination from the World Cup. However, he was clearly an outsider and Terry was given the job and Steven Gerrard made vice-captain.
On 11 October, Neville was involved in a game-changing incident during a Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia when his straightforward backpass took an unfortunate bounce and caused goalkeeper Paul Robinson to miss his kick, which resulted in the ball ending up in the net. Although Robinson was at the centre of the moment, Neville was officially credited with an own goal, the second of his England career; he has scored no goals for England.
On 7 February 2007, Neville won his 85th cap in England's 1–0 friendly defeat to Spain. His appearance took him to within one cap of equalling Sansom's record for an England full back, and eighth in the all-time appearances list for his country. However, an ankle injury suffered on 17 March 2007 while playing for Manchester United robbed him of the chance to equal Sansom's record, as he was forced to miss the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Andorra on 24 March and 28 respectively. Surgery on his ankle ruled him out of two summer matches at the new Wembley Stadium, and then a calf muscle injury delayed his recovery in the autumn. These injury problems together with a perceived decline in ability threatened to put an end to Neville's international playing career.
On 24 May 2009, Neville was given a surprise recall to the England squad by Fabio Capello for the World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra, but did not feature in any of these games.[14]
Neville holds or co-holds a number of England records:
- When he came on as a substitute against Italy at Leeds in 2002, he earned his 51st cap, breaking the record for a right back held previously by Phil Neal.
- His 11 appearances for England in the European Championship finals (over three tournaments) is a record.
- Neville also holds the record for the most appearances by an outfield player without having scored a goal (other than own goals) for the England team. This less prestigious record was broken in 2004, having previously been held by Ray Wilson.
- With his brother Phil, the Nevilles hold the record of England's most capped brothers, with 142 appearances between them. It was Phil's appearance as a substitute againstIsrael in 2007, a game for which Gary was injured, which broke a record they had jointly held with Jack and Bobby Charlton.
- The Nevilles hold outright the record for the most appearances in the same England team by a pair of brothers with 31, although the 31st in 2007 came a whole seven years after the 30th.
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