62 Facts About Gary Neville

1.

Gary Alexander Neville was born on 18 February 1975 and is an English football pundit, former player, and political activist.

2.

Gary Neville is a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City.

3.

Gary Neville was assistant manager for the England national team from 2012 to 2016.

4.

Gary Neville is one of the most decorated English and European footballers of all time, having won a total of 20 trophies, including eight Premier League titles and two Champions League titles.

5.

Gary Neville made his international debut in 1995 and was first-choice right-back for England for more than 10 years, representing the nation at three European Championships and two World Cups.

6.

Gary Neville joined Manchester United as an apprentice upon leaving school in 1991, and captained the youth side to FA Youth Cup glory in his first season.

7.

Gary Neville made his senior debut for United in September 1992 against Torpedo Moscow in the UEFA Cup.

8.

Gary Neville emerged as part of Alex Ferguson's youth-oriented side of the 1990s that included his brother Phil, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes.

9.

Gary Neville formed a successful partnership with Beckham on the right wing, regularly contributing assists.

10.

In January 2005, Gary Neville was critical of Nike for starting anti-racism campaign Stand Up Speak Up, accusing them of being involved for good public relations.

11.

Gary Neville made the comments after refusing to wear a training top bearing the logo ahead of a fixture against rivals Arsenal.

12.

Gary Neville's actions were criticised by Liverpool and fellow England defender Jamie Carragher, sections of the media and police who blamed him for disturbances between fans after the game.

13.

Gary Neville was charged with improper conduct by the FA.

14.

Gary Neville contested this, asking if it was preferable for players to act like "robots" and show no emotions.

15.

On 9 April 2008, Gary Neville made his long-awaited comeback against Roma in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford, coming on as an 81st-minute substitute for Anderson; Gary Neville was welcomed back to the pitch with a standing ovation, and was promptly given the captain's armband.

16.

Gary Neville started his first game in 17 months when he captained Manchester United for the 2008 FA Community Shield against Portsmouth on 10 August 2008.

17.

On 21 September 2008, Gary Neville started his first league game in almost 18 months when he played against Chelsea.

18.

Gary Neville extended his stay at Old Trafford until June 2010.

19.

Gary Neville did feature in enough league games to qualify for what would have been his ninth title medal, but United were beaten to the Premier League title by Chelsea who finished ahead of them by a single point.

20.

On 2 February 2011, Gary Neville announced his retirement from football after almost 20 years playing at Manchester United.

21.

Gary Neville later revealed that, during half-time of his last game, he sat on the toilet and knew for certain that it would be his last game.

22.

Gary Neville's testimonial was played at Old Trafford against Juventus on 24 May 2011.

23.

Manchester United's starting line-up included members of the "Class of '92": Gary Neville was joined by his brother Phil, Beckham, Butt, Scholes and Giggs.

24.

Gary Neville made another appearance in Paul Scholes' testimonial at Old Trafford on 5 August 2011, playing for the New York Cosmos in their first fixture since their re-establishment in 2010.

25.

Gary Neville made his first appearance for England in 1995 when he was picked by Terry Venables for the friendly against Japan.

26.

Gary Neville was selected at right-back for his country by five different coaches.

27.

The form of Manchester City's Micah Richards, Liverpool's Glen Johnson and Gary Neville's Manchester United teammate Wes Brown placed his position in the England team under threat in the latter years of his career.

28.

Gary Neville had been the youngest first-choice player in the England first team during his debut tournament, Euro 96, playing in each game until the semi-final, for which he was suspended after receiving a yellow card in two separate games.

29.

Gary Neville played in the 1998 World Cup under the tenure of Glenn Hoddle as manager.

30.

Gary Neville played at Euro 2000 during the tenure of Kevin Keegan as manager.

31.

Gary Neville missed the latter stages of the qualification campaign for the 2006 World Cup with injury.

32.

Gary Neville returned to the England team in March 2006 for a friendly against Uruguay.

33.

Gary Neville briefly 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 being on the field.

34.

On 11 October, Gary 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.

35.

Gary Neville's 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.

36.

On 24 May 2009, Gary Neville was given a surprise recall to the England squad by Fabio Capello for the World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra, but did not feature in any of these games.

37.

Gary Neville wrote in his autobiography that, at times, he had reflected on his international career and thought sometimes that it was "a massive waste of time", and that success with United was "always the most important thing".

38.

An experienced and dedicated footballer, regarded as one of England's greatest right-backs, and as one of the best Premier League full-backs of his generation, Gary Neville was an aggressive, tenacious, and hard-tackling player, known for his work-rate, professionalism, determination, and consistency as a defender; due to his positional sense, he was capable of playing as a centre-back on occasion.

39.

Gary Neville, who holds UEFA Pro Coaching Licences, was appointed to the England senior team coaching staff by newly appointed manager Roy Hodgson on 14 May 2012 along with Ray Lewington and goalkeeping coach Dave Watson, signing a four-year contract with the FA.

40.

Gary Neville continued to work as assistant manager of England through the 2014 World Cup and subsequent Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

41.

Gary Neville was appointed as head coach at Valencia in Spain on 2 December 2015.

42.

The decision to hire Gary Neville was met with much surprise in Spain, due to his lack of prior experience, and as he was not fluent in Spanish.

43.

At the time of his sacking, Valencia were 14th in the league, only six points clear of the relegation zone, and had won only three of their 16 league games under Gary Neville, failing to keep a single clean sheet.

44.

Ahead of his testimonial in 2011, Gary Neville revealed he would spend the proceeds towards a supporters club and hotel near Old Trafford.

45.

The first operation was a football-themed restaurant named Cafe Football in Stratford, London, which opened in November 2013, with Hotel Football, previously under the guise of the supporters club Gary Neville announced in 2011, scheduled to be opened in late 2014.

46.

Gary Neville wrote a weekly full-page column in the Sports section of The Sunday Times of Malta, the widest circulating newspaper in the country, which is home to the oldest recognised Manchester United Supporters' Club.

47.

Gary Neville had previously done some punditry work for ITV Sport during the 2002 World Cup, which he missed due to injury, and for Euro 2008, which England did not qualify for.

48.

On 8 August 2014, The Daily Telegraph announced that Gary Neville would be joining their staff as a columnist.

49.

In taking his managerial job at Valencia in December 2015, Gary Neville quit his position as a regular Sky Sports pundit after four years in the job.

50.

Gary Neville participated as a pundit in ITV's coverage of 2018 FIFA World Cup.

51.

In 2021, Gary Neville started his own YouTube channel, named The Overlap, on which he interviews figures from the world of sport.

52.

Neville has regularly been praised for his well-researched and neutral analysis, and he is regarded as one of the best football pundits on British television, with Gary Lineker admitting he would like to work with Neville on Match of the Day, and Des Lynam praising his switch from player to pundit.

53.

Gary Neville has spoken out publicly against the dominance of foreign players in the Premier League.

54.

Gary Neville described it as a "short-term plan we'll regret forever".

55.

In 2021, when reports emerged that a number of European clubs were breaking away from the European football pyramid system to form a European Super League without meritocratic relegation and promotion, Gary Neville publicly opposed the plans.

56.

Two weeks later, Gary Neville expressed support for Anti-Glazer protests, which occurred in light of the attempted creation of the European Super League, and is part of a movement dating back to 2005.

57.

Gary Neville was a talented cricketer as a schoolboy and played alongside future England captain Michael Vaughan at the Bunbury Cricket Festival and younger brother Phil for Lancashire's Under-14 team, and for Greenmount Cricket Club in the Bolton Cricket League, for whom on Sunday 19 July 1992 he scored 110 not out in an unbroken partnership of 236 with Australian professional Matthew Hayden in a Hamer Cup tie against Astley Bridge.

58.

In 1999, Gary Neville was best man for the wedding of team-mate David Beckham and Victoria Adams.

59.

Gary Neville married Emma Hadfield on 16 June 2007 and their first child, daughter Molly, was born on 11 January 2009.

60.

In January 2010, it was reported that Gary Neville has applied for planning permission to build an eco-friendly home, which would be the first zero-carbon house in northwest England.

61.

Gary Neville endorsed the Labour Party in the 2019 United Kingdom general election.

62.

On 16 April 2022, Gary Neville revealed that he will be banned from driving after reaching 12 penalty points on his licence and issued an apology.