Premier League 
/ Maxliu / 03 February 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Gary Neville in trademark badge-beating roar mode
"He proved is that there is such a thing as loyalty, there are higher things than money and that the team triumphs over all."
As Manchester United right-back Gary Neville retires from football, Maxwell Liu pays tribute to a serious man who proved that loyalty still matters.
Forget the misguided anti-Liverpudlianism, the hectoring of referees and the occasional lapses in big games, Gary Neville was a talented, driven footballer who exuded integrity.
It's hard not to descend into cliches such as "dying breed" and "old-fashioned" when talking about the Manchester United right-back, who announced his retirement yesterday, because not only was he the type of one club man we may never see again, he also loved the game and he loved his club.
His club just happened to be the most famous one in the world. It's extraordinary to think that for about a decade a team that could have taken its pick from young talent around the world was dominated by a group of players who mostly hailed from Greater Manchester. There must be something about growing up in the shadow of Old Trafford that gives boys like the Nevilles, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs something stratospheric to aim for. Scholes may have supported Oldham and Gary and Phil hail from Bury but they were destined for the top from early on, as though no other football really existed.
In his infamous autobiography Head-To-Head, Jaap Stam offers a telling insight into the Nevilles when he says that for away games they were always the first to arrive for the team bus. One pictures them sitting outside Old Trafford on their hold-alls, yapping about football, swapping stickers of their favourite Bury players or playing one on one on the concrete.
There was something schoolboyish about Neville's enthusiasm but on and off the field he was a serious man. Sir Alex Ferguson speculated that with another couple of inches he could have been the finest centre-half of his generation and, although he did move inside to great effect in 2001-02 when the back four was rocking, he settled long term for being the greatest right-back in United's history. He was dependable, compact, a terrific tackler and his partnership with Beckham down the flank was instrumental to several Premier League titles and the Champions League triumph of 1999. After Beckham left, in the three years Ronaldo took to find his feet, Neville was United's best crosser of the ball.
By all accounts he's a top bloke too. He may have peppered his talk with northern anachonisms but he was a frank interviewee, did not speak in cliches and always had time for the little people. His politics are in the right place and he's been consistently dubbed a "shop steward" for his defiant attitude to the game's rule-makers and the central role he played in the nearly-rebellion of England players in 2003. Good for him.
If all this carries echos of a lost world of match-stick men and rattles then don't be deluded. Gary Neville was a thoroughly modern footballer who earned more money in a month than most people do in a decade. His best mate is David Beckham for godsake. However, what he proved is that there is such a thing as loyalty, there are higher things than money and that the team triumphs over all.
As great Mancunians go he might not be quite up there with Pankhurst, Morrissey, Wilson or even Giggs. But he's not far off. It will be intriguing to hear him break his silence on the Glazers now, one can only hope that he will get behind the Manchester United Supporters Trust and not take up a punditry role with Sky. It would be a shame to see an almost-great Manc working for the man.
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