‘I cannot explain it to this day’ – Gary Neville admits biggest regret of his football career still haunts him now
GARY NEVILLE won the lot with Manchester United – but claims there’s one huge “disappointment” on the pitch he’ll never get over.
The 1999 Treble winner won eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups and 85 England caps.
The former right-back, who will be 50 on Monday, admits opposition players “absolutely despised him”.
But that’s not what bothers him – especially as he even reckons they were RIGHT to hate him!
Nev is now a Sky Sports pundit, successful businessman and one of the United Class of 92 group who helped take over Salford in 2014.
And he believes a vow he made at the age of 36, to enjoy the second half of his life even more than the first, is proceeding well.
However, he is haunted by his record with the Three Lions.
Neville played under Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan, Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren for England from 1995-2007.
He was part of the “Golden Generation” – an era launched with a 5-1 World Cup qualifying victory away to Germany in September 2001.
That squad also included Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard and Michael Owen.
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Eriksson took that incredible selection of individual talents to the quarter-finals of three major tournaments in a row.
But their failure to get beyond that stage in the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup is regarded as a wasted opportunity.
Above all, England never quite worked out how to use their clutch of world class midfielders – or whether to drop some to ensure a better balance to the team.
And Neville, arguably the most unsung member of the side, expects his frustration over his international CV to remain forever.
Even more so because he was a coach under Roy Hodgson when the Three Lions flopped at Euro 2012 and the World Cup two years later.
Nev told The Times: “It’s one of my biggest disappointments.
“I’ve been to eight tournaments as a player, and then a coach, and I think in five we were knocked out on penalties.
“I look at the current team, who have got through on penalties, and the mentality, what they’ve done in preparation terms, and think it could have been so different for us.
“I was playing with an exceptional group of players at times but we didn’t know how to get over the line. I cannot explain it to this day.”
Neville accepts that club rivalries – in particular with United and Liverpool – might have played a part in the Golden Generation under-achieving.
He said: “We carried something into the games because there was such animosity at times.
“I think I carried it as a player: anti-everybody else, siege mentality; United, or everyone else can do one. There was no doubt that Alex Ferguson created that at the club and we bought into it, carried that with us.”
Nev added: “To be fair I look back and think I’d absolutely despise me if I was playing against me!
“For me the idea of being despised was a trophy. I want to be despised, I didn’t want you to like me.
“But maybe at times [with England] there was something of a hangover. You’re kicking lumps out of each other and then, all of a sudden, you rock up and you’ve got to be team-mates.”