Gary Neville

Gary Neville

Personal information
Full name	Gary Alexander Neville
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Right back
Team information
Current team	Manchester United (Captain)
Number	2
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 February 2007

Gary Alexander Neville (born February 18, 1975 in Bury, Greater Manchester) is an English footballer who is England's most capped right full back, and Manchester United's club captain.

Neville started his career at Old Trafford as a central defender, but was later converted into a full back because it was felt he may have been too short to play centrally. He made his international debut in 1995 and has been first choice right back for club and country for more than ten years.

Personal

Gary Neville is from a heavily sporting family; his younger brother Philip Neville is also a footballer and their sister Tracey Neville has represented England at netball. Their father, the idiosyncratically-named Neville Neville, worked in the commercial side of football, including a long spell at Bury in the 1990s when his sons rose to fame.

Gary and Phil Neville were team-mates at both club and international level all their careers until Phil joined Everton in 2005. Indeed, they play the same position and therefore often found themselves as rivals for a place in the Manchester United side.

Gary has been engaged to 26-year-old Emma Hadfield for three years.In August 2004 The Sun tabloid accused her of cheating on Gary while he was playing for England in Portugal. She demanded an immediate retraction and, when refused, began legal proceedings against the paper. In May 2005 the two parties settled out of court, with the Sun issuing a correction and paying Ms. Hadfield £75,000. Gary and Emma plan to get married on June 16, 2007 the same day as both his England team mates Steven Gerrard (to Alex Curran) and Michael Carrick. The couple plan to live in a new £6 million, 11 bedroom mansion in Bradshaw, Greater Manchester.

Club

Gary made his senior debut for Manchester United, his only club, in 1992 against Torpedo Moscow in the UEFA Cup (having joined as a schoolboy in 1991). Gary emerged as part of Alex Ferguson's phenomenal youth oriented fledgling side of the 1990s (nicknamed Fergie's Fledglings; an updated take on the 1950s equivalent, the Busby Babes) that included his brother Phil, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes. He became a regular choice at right back in 1994 and has stayed there ever since. In the summer of 2004 signed a four year contract with Manchester United and seems now destined to spend his entire playing career there.

Some players have been highly critical of the Neville brothers, the most notable instance being Jaap Stam. Whilst a teammate of the Nevilles at Manchester United the Dutchman made headlines in a book he had written, stating that the brothers were "whingers" and making other claims[1]. In December 2005, Gary was appointed the new captain of Manchester United, following Roy Keane's departure.

In January 2006, his actions were the subject of some controversy after his celebration in front of the visiting Liverpool fans at Old Trafford, when he was seen to run from the half-way line towards the opposing fans to celebrate the 90th minute injury-time winning-goal header by United defender Rio Ferdinand. His actions were criticised by Liverpool player Jamie Carragher, sections of the media, and even the police who blamed him for disturbances between fans after the game. He was subsequently charged with improper conduct by the Football Association which he contested asking if it was preferable for players to act like "robots" and show no emotions. He was fined £5,000 with a warning about his future conduct.

This far, Gary has won seven Premiership titles, three FA Cups, one European Cup and one League Cup, the last of which was his first trophy as captain.

International

Neville made his first appearance for England in 1995 when he was picked by Terry Venables for the friendly against Japan. He has been the first choice right back for his country ever since, playing for five different coaches. He was the only player above 30 years of age to be selected in Steve McClaren's first squad with the omission of David Beckham, David James, and Sol Campbell. Gary and his brother Phil are the only remaining players in the England squad from Euro 96.

Neville is considered a good candidate, injury permitting, to achieve 100 appearances for England; or, at the very least, become his country's most capped full back overall - Kenny Sansom, the former Crystal Palace and Arsenal left back, currently holds that honour with 86 caps.

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. 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.

As expected, Neville was selected for England's 2006 World Cup squad. He played in his normal position of right fullback in England's opening Group B game against Paraguay. However, Neville pulled his calf in training the night before the team's second game against Trinidad & Tobago. He was forced to miss that game, the team's final group game against Sweden, and England's round of sixteen game against Ecuador.

He returned to training on June 27, and played the full match, including extra time, in England's losing quarter-final against Portugal on July 1. It was his 81st England cap, taking him a clear 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 also 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.

On October 11, 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 had to be officially credited with an own goal, the second of his England career.

On February 7 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 March 17 2007 while playing for Manchester United robbed him of the chance to equal and then beat Sansom's record, as he was forced to miss the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Andorra on March 24 and 28 respectively. Surgery on his ankle ruled him out of two summer matches at the new Wembley, and he now will not be able to become England's most capped full back until the autumn.

Neville does hold or co-hold a number of England records already:

• 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.
• As his brother Phil replaced him against Israel in 2007, it allowed the Nevilles to equal the record of Jack and Bobby Charlton as England's most capped brothers, with 141 appearances between them.
• The Nevilles hold outright the record for the most appearances in the same England team by a pair of siblings with 31, although the 31st in 2007 came a whole seven years after the 30th.
• 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.

Neville has now appeared at least once for England in each of the last 13 years, a feat which is bettered only by Billy Wright and Peter Shilton (14 consecutive years) and the record holder David Seaman (15 consecutive years).

Media

The elder Neville brother has occasionally been criticised for supposedly underwhelming displays, but more thoughtful football observers see a solid, experienced defender who rarely puts a foot wrong and can lead teams from the back. He is also useful joining the attack - David Beckham has spent most of his career with Gary playing close behind him in support, which he has said acts as a great reassurance and is one of their best positions. The two are best friends - Gary was the best man when David married Spice Girl Victoria Adams. This friendship has often been ridiculed in the satirical cartoon sketch show 2DTV and also on They Think It's All Over.

Gary has a reputation as a "union" figure within the England camp - he was allegedly the ringleader of an idea to boycott an important Euro 2004 qualifier in Turkey in support of team-mate Rio Ferdinand who had been issued with a ban for missing a drugs test. The strike never occurred and the match went ahead. He was believed to be behind a similar player protest in support of Alan Smith, after the striker was dropped from the England squad because of an alleged off-the-field indiscretion, later proven to be untrue. Gary was also thought to be the chief instigator of the England players' snub of the British press and media after a match. The public perception of these incidents has led to Gary being lampooned in the media, for example his dubbing by the often-irreverent website Football365, as "Citizen Neville" (after Citizen Smith), while another cited nickname is "Red Nev". Neville's face has since frequently been superimposed onto the iconic image of Che Guevara in a range of contexts, including a humorous t-shirt. For some followers of football this has turned Neville from a hate figure, reviled for his devotion to Manchester United to a cult figure, celebrated for his loyalty and hard graft for both club and country.

In 2005, Gary prompted another debate in the aftermath of an England game against the Netherlands, which had been used to promote the "Let's kick racism out of football" campaign. Gary questioned whether certain corporate sponsors involved in the match believed in the cause enough to justify the publicity they received.

Gary has a long standing relationship with the Mediterranean island of Malta, he has been an official tourism ambassador since 2001 and works with Air Malta to promote the country which he has regularly visited since childhood. In return the Malta Tourism Authority and Air Malta sponsor the Gary Neville Soccer School on the island, which Gary tutors at every summer.

Honours

Major Honours Only

• FA Premier League (7): 1995/1996, 1996/1997, 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2000/2001, 2002/2003, 2006/2007
• Uefa Champions League (1): 1998/1999
• FA Cup (3): 1996, 1999, 2004
• League Cup (1): 2006

External links

• Gary Neville career stats at Soccerbase
• Gary Neville Player Profile from Carling
• Gary Neville: Legend Fans view on United captain