Gary Neville - Red: My Autobiography

About the Book

Gary Neville is a Red... The chant rang round Old Trafford for the best part of two decades, and if any player can be said to epitomize Manchester United, it is Gary Neville. A fan of United since he was a boy, who made the grade through sheer determination and hard work and won the honour of captaining the side. A fighter, proud of his roots, with a never-say-die attitude that helped make United the top team in the land. The best right-back of his generation, for both club and country.

He also riled his fair share of people, of course, and in Red: My Autobiography , Gary Neville pulls no punches in his account of life with Manchester United and England. Since growing up at the club with the likes of Beckham, Giggs and Scholes, plus his own brother Phil, Gary has always had a view on how the game should be played about loyalty, football agents, the FA. And in typically forthright style, he has plenty of tales about the cast of characters that forged Uniteds phenomenal and continued success: Keane, Cantona, Rooney, Ronaldo, and of course Sir Alex Ferguson.

Red is a unique account of a career at the very top of the game. For twenty years, Gary Neville has worn his heart on his sleeve. This is his story.

Contents

RED

My Autobiography

GARY NEVILLE

To my girls: Emma, Molly, Sophie all my love. xxxxxxxx

Mum and Dad none of this would have happened without you. You have given me everything you could and more than I could ever have asked. All my love. x

Tracey and Philip the best sister and brother. All my love. x

Nan/Bill/Nan/Grandad thank you. I love you all so much. x

Manchester United: the Boss, the Staff, the Players, the Fans. Thank you for all you have done for me. To be around people who demand the best from you, that you can trust, that look after you, that fight with you and love their own, has been inspiring and the experience of a lifetime. I will miss being with you every day. I love you all!

Gary

Prologue

The lights went out. Suddenly the Old Trafford dressing room was plunged into darkness. A television flickered into life. And there was my career being played out in front of me.

Leading out the team, lifting trophies, celebrating with Wazza, Scholesy, Becks, even scoring a few goals (they had to do some digging through the archives for those) and finally a handshake from the boss with the words Thank you, son, up on the screen.

Id had no idea the film was coming but I couldnt have devised a better way to finish than being gathered in that dressing room with the boss, the present-day United lads and all the old gang including Becks, Phil and Butty, all back for my testimonial.

You play football because you love the game, but in many ways its the dressing room which gives you the most cherished memories. Thats where you share the banter, you come together with your mates, you crack jokes, and celebrate titles. Its the private chamber where you learn what it is to be a team.

I was determined not to become emotional on my testimonial night. Ive never been comfortable with too much fuss. Id just wanted to get it over with. But as the film played, I could feel myself welling up. Id lived my dream.

They say some sportsmen find retirement hard to take. For them its like falling off a cliff. They become depressed and struggle to find purpose in their life. But retirement held no fears for me. In that moment, as I watched that film, I just felt incredibly lucky.

I played for United all my life not just a one-club man but at the greatest club on the planet. Something grabs you when you are a child and gives you a passion. Mine was always United.

Theres a banner I always looked out for at games it must have been there for fifteen years which reads United, Kids, Wife. In that order. I was thinking of making that the title of this book, and my wife wouldnt have been surprised. The club has shaped my life. Its been the one constant, along with my family.

I played all those years with my brother, sharing so many happy times. I was part of the greatest youth team there may ever be, making true, loyal, lifelong friends of Becks, Butty, Scholesy and Giggsy. Id seen all our teenage hopes and dreams miraculously come true with the Treble.

Since boyhood Id been taught by the greatest manager of them all. Id seen him restore United from a club with a famous past into English footballs most revered and celebrated sporting institution, not just winning trophies but playing brilliant attacking football. Id shared a dressing room with Robson, Cantona, Keane, Ronaldo and other living legends.

I played through the most successful period in the clubs history. At the end of it all, the club won a record nineteenth title. Who could have believed that was possible when I made my debut in 1992 and the club was on only seven championships? Passing Liverpool was a special moment in history.

It was an amazing ride to get there, with plenty of fantastic moments but some hard times too when the boss, the club, the players were doubted. There were bust-ups and moments of despair. There were times when our characters were tested.

Through it all, the many, many highs and the occasional lows, Ive felt privileged to be wearing the shirt. You cant have a bad day playing for United. Thats what Ive always told the young players coming through. You may feel like youre having a crap time but when you look down and see that United badge on your chest its always a great day. And I wore that shirt for the best part of twenty years.

Boy from the K-Stand

Gary Neville is a Red, he hates Scousers.

RIGHT FROM THE start, I loved United and I loved an argument. So it was always going to be a volatile mix when I went to a school full of Liverpool fans.

I grew up in Bury, just up the road from Manchester. But looking at all the Liverpool FC football shirts, my school might as well have been yards from Anfield.

This was the eighties. Liverpool were the glamorous, successful team of the moment so pretty much all the kids at school supported them, like kids do. There we were, less than ten miles from Old Trafford, but it could have been the heart of Merseyside. I wasnt the only United fan in the playground, but it felt that way to me.

I dont know how you react to being outnumbered, but it brought out the fighter in me. My dads side of the family have a stubborn, argumentative streak, and school is where I first discovered that Im a Neville to my core. If I have an abiding memory of my school days, it is squabbling with all those Liverpool fans. I must have spent more time bickering with them than focused on my studies. Wed argue about who had the best players, the best ground, the best kit. Its an argument thats never stopped. I dont suppose it ever will.

In those days Liverpool were my tormentors. At school Id have their success shoved down my throat day after day. Thats how the feuding started.

They were winning everything at the time, but the more crowing I heard about Liverpools triumphs, the more Id defend my club. Id stubbornly argue for United all day long. Anyone who thinks Ive been a one-eyed defender of United in recent years should have heard me in the playground at Chantlers Primary.

United were the most magical thing in my life. As a kid, I lived for watching games. Going to Old Trafford was the highlight of my week. The club was in the blood, thanks to my dad.

Hes been a devoted Red all his life. He went to the 1958 FA Cup final as a nine-year-old, when United lost bravely to Bolton Wanderers just a few months after the tragedy of the Munich air crash. He saw the glory years under Sir Matt Busby, with Best, Law and Charlton. He followed loyally through the lean years of the seventies; he was watching when United were relegated in 1974. Win or lose, following United was his passion. Once hed started earning his own money, he hardly missed a match.