Gary Neville on Manchester United’s island mentality and England
Written by News on 05/09/2019
In the latest edition of Off Script, Gary Neville sheds light on the island mentality behind Manchester United’s dominance, and how club rivalry manifested itself to England’s detriment on international duty.
Neville was both a mainstay during Sir Alex Ferguson’s era of dominance at Old Trafford and a member of the golden generation of English football that failed to replicate their club success on the international stage.
But was disharmony to blame for England’s failings? The Sky Sports pundit address that question on the latest episode of Off Script as well as highlighting the realities of travelling abroad with the national team and the thinking behind Manchester United’s insular mindset…
Billy No Mates?
It’s fair to say we had a strong group of United lads with England. But, having said that, the very first year I was in the England squad, there was only Gary Pallister on my first trip and he actually left injured, so I was on my own.
Then for the next year there was only actually Phil, he was the only player that broke into the squad. So, for the first year, 1995/96, I was on my own essentially in terms of United players, so it was a case of trying to find people, the likes of Jason Wilcox, Nick Barmby, Sol Campbell.
The United clique
It was only me and Phil in the squad around Euro 96 but, after that, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham came in, and then Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney later on.
At points there were seven or eight of us, so you do stick together. We were a clique, there is no doubt about that.
Essentially there were five or six lads that had known each other since the age of 12 who were now playing for England together. At United we were so close that when we went away with England we ended up in each other’s rooms and watch TV together.
Of course, we did speak to other people, but it wasn’t healthy at times.
A damaging dynamic?
I would never let personal differences come in the way of playing for England.
At Euro 96 there was obviously a great spirit and we got to the latter stages of the tournament. We also got the quarter-finals at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup with players from Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Was it damaging? Some would say it was, but I would like to say on the pitch that was put aside. I certainly did.
When I put on the England shirt with the likes of Jamie Carragher, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Tony Adams, I never felt that anyone tried to stitch each other up and not give 100 per cent or pull one another out a mess if they could.
I never sensed it, and the most important thing is what happens on the pitch.
The Real Madrid and Barcelona players don’t get on, sometimes you see Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos having a go at each other publicly, but they’ve won World Cups.
‘We just weren’t good enough’
Too much was made about the spirit with England, it was more down to the talent on the pitch, and, essentially, we weren’t good enough to win tournaments.
If you’re not good enough people point towards all manner of things; was the trip, the food, the spirit, the manager good enough?
Everyone gets blamed when you don’t get results in football. Very rarely do to hear that a team simply wasn’t good enough if they don’t get results, there always has to be another reason for it.
‘Travel the world, see nothing’
Neville reflects on his international career and the countless missed opportunities to explore cities and cultures while travelling overseas with England.
As an England player you neither enjoy [trips abroad] or think they’re a bad idea. You’re like a robot.
You get to the airport at Luton, fly, your bus is waiting on the tarmac, you got straight to the hotel, eat, get changed, train, get back to your room, sleep, wake up, eat again, play a game and then you go home.
I’m nodding off thinking about it but that’s the reality. I did it for 25 years. You do not do anything else.
My four years with England as a coach, on the day of the game after all of the work was done, we would go out for a walk in the city or have some lunch and then you would see the place start to think that there was a world out there. There are wonderful cities to go and experience.
I remember going to Ljubljana, Slovenia, I would absolutely recommend anyone to go to that city, it was fantastic. The World Cup in Moscow was absolutely fantastic too.
You’ve got to go deeper and ask local people where to go. You only do that when you’re older, when you’re a player you’re just a robot that basically plays, eats and sleeps.
You travel around the world and see nothing, and that’s a massive shame. It’s not right.
Friends outside United?
No.
We were on an island and no one got on that island. The reality was that we wouldn’t let anybody in, wouldn’t trust anybody else. You’d look after your team-mates at Manchester United and everyone else were just acquaintances, colleagues, whatever you want to call them.
In the dressing room everyone was so single-minded. And as a player, I was probably an unpleasant person. I’m not offended by being called ‘Billy No Mates’.
But then you finish your career, end up in the media and sit across from people at the dinner table, have a glass of wine with them.
With Carragher there was a level of distastefulness, the idea of thinking you could ever share the same room as him, let alone go on a show with him, let alone doing show after show, year after year. But you start to meet people and do shows and suddenly everything is forgotten.
I did Soccerbox the other week with Robert Pires. I used to kick lumps out of him, it was something I had to do to deal with him. But we had two hours talking about football and acted like nothing had ever happened.
(c) Sky Sports 2019: Gary Neville on Manchester United’s island mentality and England
