But now Red Nev, the former Manchester United defender, has gone
all establishment.
He has become an FA employee, trying to make England great again
as Roy Hodgson’s coach.
Neville, 37, laughed as he recounted how he went to see his old
boss Alex Ferguson to tell him the news.
He said: “Even before I went to my meeting with Roy I knew that
it was something I wanted to do and after that I went to see Sir
Alex.
“I had already made my mind up but I wanted him to be one of the
first people to know about it.
“I was panicking, as you do walking into his office, but he had
known about it 10 days before me... as per usual.
“Roy had spoken to him. That is just typical.
“He thought the role Roy was speaking about would be very good
for me, he was positive.
“You don’t sit down when you’re five or six or 37 and say: ‘I’m
going to be England coach in six months’ time’, you get
invited.
“It felt like a special moment in my life. I don’t get
emotional, I’ve never cried at a football match, I’ve never been
somebody who gets too overboard or too down, I just keep pretty
level but I knew it was something important.”
Neville is desperate to change the whole perception of
England, that the players are crippled by fear when they pull on
the shirt and cannot deal with critical headlines.
He said: “My frustration with England was that we never won a
trophy and hopefully over the next four years I can be part of a
team that does get to a successful position.
“You get a thick skin playing for United and England over 20
years so any criticism doesn’t touch you quite the same as it would
have done back then.
“We have to try and make an environment for younger players so
that they understand the nature of it, that it is a pressurised
atmosphere where you are expected to do well all the time and so
you should be.
“Criticism will come as will praise and you will be tested in
every way. Hopefully we can give these players an appetite to be
free and to have expression. Tell them this is a great moment for
them.
“Many have said there has been a fear when young players have
come into the squad to play for England.
“We have to try and remove that while still remembering the
discipline that is needed.”
Neville insisted his “waste of time” comment did not mean he was
not proud to play for England so many times.
He added: “I love England as a country and have always wanted us
to do well. It was a great honour and privilege to play for
England, a special thing, and I never gave anything less than my
best.
“It’s a completely different feeling to playing for United even
though my life was United.
“I’m just disappointed we were never successful with a group of
players I felt were talented enough.”
Neville’s role as a Sky Sports pundit has won plaudits
but has brought with it fears about whether he can be critical on
screen about players whose confidence he might have to rebuild a
week later.
He said: “People wondered how I’d be able to commentate on a
Manchester City or Liverpool match and praise or criticise them
without it being seen as pro-Manchester United.
“But I was sat there on April 30 congratulating Manchester City,
who had just beaten United, and being critical of the players who
had made mistakes.
“Two weeks later, in the last minute, of the last match of the
season, there are 40,000 people at City turning to me to let me
know they’d just won the league.
“I’ve been fair across the board with everybody.
“Just think of the times United have lost this season, 6-1
against City, losing at Blackburn. As long as you’re honest, people
don’t have a problem with it.
“There are 23 players in this squad and I’ve probably had to
highlight mistakes all of them have made. But I’m going to have to
prove that isn’t a problem over time.”
Neville accepts he has gone from poacher to gamekeeper.
As a player he could drive FA officials round the bend, not
least when he tried to organise that strike in 2003 after Rio
Ferdinand was left out for failing to attend a drugs test.
Nev added: “What it shows is the FA and the boss are not afraid
to make decisions.
“What Roy said to me was: ‘I don’t want someone to come
alongside me and be a ‘yes’ man.’
“In the past I feel England managers have invited friends to be
around them at times.
“All the time I’ve talked about the FA it’s always been
about one incident.
“We are where we are and I have said continuously that there are
an awful lot of good people at the FA. The preparation for the
players before major tournaments has always been incredible.
“I might have done things differently, and maybe they would have
done things differently, but there’s been mistakes made by all of
us during our lives.”
So would he ever start another strike? His reply: “I wouldn’t do
it now!”
Neville examined England’s past to come up with answers about
where it has all gone wrong and how to put it right.
He said: “If you want it in one sentence, the top and bottom of
it is we haven’t been good enough and you can’t sum it up more than
that.
“When I look back though — and I have been explaining to some of
the lads over the last few days — I went to five tournaments and in
four of them we went out on penalties.
“We are talking about the Argentinas, Portugals, and Germanys so
they were not exactly mug nations we were getting knocked out
by.
“The lines between success and failure are so fine.
“We’ve got a great keeper — not being disrespectful to the ones
I played with — and that could make a difference.”
It is felt this England unit will do well to get to the knockout
phase of Euro 2012 and Nev can sense the doubts.
But he believes there is enough about the squad to mount a
decent challenge.
He said: “There seems to be the lowest expectation I’ve ever
known going into a tournament.
“The Euro 96 squad had a lot of strong characters but you look
through this team and I’d say Rooney is a strong character as are
Hart, Terry and Gerrard.
“You are talking there about European and Premier League
winners. You have to have character to win those trophies.”
With Neville in the dressing room again, England’s new-boys will
not be short of advice.
All they have to do is put it into practice on the pitch.
Simple.