Last year The Insider considered the man fans love to hate - and ended up saluting the retiring Gary Neville.
Alex Dunn looks past the bum-fluff to see much to admire
Take Manchester United supporters out of the equation and Gary Neville is a footballer who divides opinion like few others.
You either dislike him a little or a lot.
Rare is it that a player breaks geographical divides to be a hate figure north, south, east and west...north east, south east, south coast, south west, north west (the blue side). He's a compass of ill-will wherever he travels: like Jimmy Bullard in reverse. Leeds fans have been known to do battle with Man City supporters over who loathes him more, while don't even get the Scousers started if you've got anything else to do today.
Yet, despite the fact he's 35-years-old and sports the kind of moustache only those without fake ID should ever contemplate, I quite like him. There can be no disputing some of his actions have been ill-advised over the years but all have been born out of love - however blinkered or distorted - for his football club. And it is very much his football club. How many other footballers can you say the same for?
Nev the Red couldn't be more United if he donned a furry suit and giant head to give sweets out to kids pre-match. In fact, I've never seen Nev and Fred in the same room...
In an era where most footballers won't leave their club before a loyalty bonus is paid out, Neville's stance that he would never represent another so as not to 'dilute' his football experience is positively refreshing. Perhaps only Shaun Wright-Phillips can claim similar loyalty.
After 20 years' service Neville has become ingrained in Old Trafford's detritus, a snappy belligerent presence who matches a will to win only with a studious appreciation of the game.
While Ryan Giggs is the perfect ambassador, a Rolls Royce of a person and player, it is Neville who best manifests his manager's persona on the field. It is Neville's spittle that referees have to wash from their lobes, as it is his ire that younger players have to deal with if their standards fail to match his exacting own.
There is no doubt Neville, at least in football terms, belongs to a different age. It's not hard to see why some team-mates might see him as a figure of fun. More straight bat (read professional) than a Geoffrey Boycott cover drive, Neville has the aura of a shop steward. He's the kid in the playground with a briefcase; his detractors would say he's the kid who snitches on the smokers.
Jaap Stam described the Neville brothers as being 'busy James Blunts' in his autobiography, while Carlos Tevez's recent 'sock sucker' remark endeared him even further to the wider football fraternity.
His fall-out with Tevez started with a column Neville wrote in a Maltese newspaper (don't ask) in which he claims he 'innocuously' spoke of his manager's decision not to sign the Argentine in the summer. When the City striker celebrated his goal in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final between his present and former employers by forming a mouth with his fingers in Neville's direction, the United substitute responded with an even blunter gesture of his own.
In an illuminating interview with the
Observer at the weekend Neville shrugs off the hysteria that surrounded his single-digit gesture, demonstrating an awareness of the smoke and mirrors, hype and hyperbole the media use to sell football's theatre.
"Last Sunday we went up for the [Carling Cup] final and got the medal round our necks and that's all that matters. It's what happens at the end. The noise and fluff that happened between those semi-final legs was great drama for everyone. I don't blame the media, they have a job to do."
It's this type of media savvy that allows Neville to play the game, dare we say revel in it, without becoming engulfed by it. There's no doubt he loves the drama of rivalry and enjoys his 'Gary Neville is a Red, he hates Scousers' chant but I suspect behind the badge kissing, inappropriate celebrations and plain talking there is a little mischief, a devilment that embraces an opportunity to stir the pot - albeit with the straightest of faces.
There was nothing big or clever about his celebration/warm-up routine against Manchester City earlier in the season but it was pure Partridge comedy gold. The puritans of upstanding values were enraged by such behaviour, Mark Hughes labelled him a lunatic, but those that saw beyond the fluff and noise afforded themselves a chuckle.
So often Neville proves to be the agent provocateur to the man on the street and yet, of those still playing, it is his comments that seem the most salient. A union man to the core and staunch member of the PFA, Neville never hides his disdain for the agents that mollycoddle their clients, the hangers on and b****** merchants that make up many a modern day star's entourage.
"It is one of my pet hates when I see players who have agents that do everything for them. They don't know how to set up their own bank account, they don't know what they're spending their money on and they can't make their own decisions. A player doesn't need to pay between five and 15 per cent of his wages to a guy to set up a bank account, buy him a new fridge, or ask his club's chief executive for a pay rise."
It was surprising to read at the weekend his plans beyond playing will probably not extend into management. Neville appeared to be a shoo-in to patrol the dugout as a No.1 once he hangs up his boots but again, in the most frank of admissions, he admits that having dedicated 20 years to getting to the top of his profession as a player, he'd be loath to do it again in another capacity.
"There've been so many examples of failure in the last 10 to 15 years. I don't see happy people. People might say it's a challenge but I want happiness in my life.
"Am I going to give my all to management in the same way as I did 20 years ago to becoming a football player? Probably not, if I'm being honest, because I see that some of the great coaches - Ferguson, Wenger, Benitez, Mourinho - probably weren't right at the top of the tree as players but it made them more determined to succeed as managers and coaches."
It has been intimated Neville will be awarded a one-year contract extension when his existing deal expires in the summer, so for now his thoughts lie with matters on the field. Given his admission with regards management it's unlikely he's thinking 'Fergie can't go on forever' but I wouldn't be surprised if he's had similar thoughts about Fred the Red.
