Chapter 1: What unique perspective does Gary Neville bring to Manchester United's dominance?
We have the perfect guest for today's edition of Off Script. Gary Neville, a man who never, ever sticks to the script, despite what we tell him. And I have to say, somewhat casually dressed as well.
You sounded like Boris Johnson then. Off Script. What did you say? I'm casually dressed, yeah, because I'm only on cold comms today. I'm not in the studio. I've not been selected.
Never forget who you are, where you are, and who you're representing, but that's a different issue. You're a tie. Now, I want to talk international football. I mean, you didn't have many mates at club level. You must have had even fewer at international.
It's fair to say we had a strong group of United lads, obviously. Apart from my first, you say that, the very first year that I was in the England squad, in fact, the very first trip, there was only Gary Pallister, and he actually left injured, so I was on my own. Then for the next year, there was only actually Phil. was the only player that actually broke into the squad near the end.
So for the first year I was in the squad, 95-96, I actually was on my own, essentially, in terms of United players, so it was a case of trying to find people like Nicky Barnaby, Jason Wilcox, Sol Campbell, who's here with us... Not today. Sorry, just that again.
No, we're not starting again. We're not mentioning today.
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Chapter 2: How does the island mentality affect team dynamics in international football?
So we're not mentioning today. So I'm allowed to say Sol Campbell. You and I were just out on a Sunday afternoon.
We happened to be at Arsenal, didn't we? We did, we did. So, yeah, so basically, after that, though, obviously, 96 left. There's only me and Phil in the squad from United in Euro 96. But after that, Bex came in, Scholes came in, Nicky came in, Andy Cole came in, Teddy Sheringham came in. It was just Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney. I mean, it was like seven or eight of us.
And you're right, you do stick together. And
So what you're saying is, when you were Billy No-Mates, you were nice to everybody, and as soon as your mates arrived, the cliques formed.
We were a clique. I mean, we were a clique. There's no doubt about that because... Is it a clique or a clique? A clique. We were a clique because essentially, I mean, there was five, six lads there that had known each other since the age of 12. We're now playing for England together.
Yeah, but that's damaging. You're not there for Manchester United. You are there for England. You've got to generate good feeling in the squad. Team spirit.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Neville face in forming relationships with England teammates?
So you going off on your own...
That's not good. I know, but, Geoff, I see you come here. I've been at Sky 25 years. I see you come here every Sunday and you only speak to Brett and the other smarty. You know what I mean? That's it. You don't speak to anybody else.
I speak to everybody. Unlike you, Gary, I'm a people person.
I'm being serious now. I don't see you exactly going socialising with the guys behind the camera or the guys who are basically in sound every week. My point is, there's a big team here today. I just see you, you know, basically sharing your time with the bigwigs and the people you think can further your career. And at United, from my point of view, I was just... Not me.
At United, we were so close. We then went away with England. We just ended up in each other's rooms, just watching telly together, sharing together. And you're right, don't get me wrong, we did speak to other people. That's good of you. It wasn't healthy at times, I'll be honest with you. Was it damaging? I would never let, on a football pitch, playing for England...
personal differences coming the way at all. So in Euro 96, there were obviously a great spirit. We got to quarterfinals and later stages in 2004 and 2006. There were players there from Liverpool, from Chelsea, from Arsenal. Was it damaging?
some would say it was I would like to think that on the pitch to be fair we put things aside I definitely did put things aside I'm sure the other lads did as well I never felt on the pitch if I was playing with you know Jamie Carragher or Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard or John Terry Tony Adams or anybody else like that I never felt wearing an England shirt that anybody ever tried to stitch each other up and not do
pull 100%, you know, one another out of the mess if they could do. So I never sensed it. And the most important thing is on the pitch. The Real Madrid and Barcelona players don't get on, Geoff. No. They don't get on. You know, you see sometimes, you know, Pique, Ramos having goals at each other publicly, but they've won World Cups. So I think... We've overplayed this whole thing.
It is a little bit overplayed because essentially we weren't good enough. We weren't good enough to win tournaments. That's the reality of it. And people can then point towards, if you're not good enough, people point towards, was the trip good enough? Was the hotel good enough? Was the food good enough? Was this good enough? Was that good enough? Was the spirit good enough?
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Chapter 4: How did the Manchester United clique influence England's national team performance?
Was the manager good enough? Everyone gets blamed when people don't get results in football. Everybody, and we're the same on Sky. If you don't get results, it's never just a case of that team isn't good enough, or very rarely is it a case of that team's not good enough. There always has to be another reason for it. And we're trying to find those reasons.
I'm in the media now, so I'm seeing it from the other side. So I think maybe too much was paid It was more about the talent on the pitch than it was about the actual spirit off the pitch.
Now, Gareth Southgate takes his squad to Kosovo next. What's it like going to places like that with England? You must have experienced it.
Do you know something? As a player, you neither enjoy it or do you think it's bad either? You're like a robot.
You just, you basically, you get to the airport at Luton, you fly, you get there, the bus is waiting for you on the tarmac, you go straight to the hotel, you go straight up into the eating room, you get your key, you eat your food, you go up to your room and you sleep, you get changed, you train in the evening, you come back, you eat, you go to bed, you wake up, you eat, you go back to your room, then you eat again and then you go to sleep and then you unplay a game and then you go home.
Hang on, I'm nodding off here.
Exactly, and I'm not even thinking about it, I did it for 25 years, but that's the reality, you do not do anything else.
Where I really started, to be honest with you two, were my four years with England as a coach, when on the day of the game, morning of the game, all the work's done, you've done your team talks the night before, you've done your set pieces, you go out and you walk in the city, or you might have something to eat at lunchtime, and then you start to see the place and you think, well, there's a world out there.
I remember going to Slovenia, Was it Slovenia? Ljubljana, where's Ljubljana? Is that Slovenia? Slovakia? Slovenia, isn't it? Slovenia, I knew it was Slovenia. Ljubljana. Hey, geography with Gary Neville. Do you know something? I would absolutely recommend anybody to go to that city. It was absolutely fantastic. And you've said to me, go to Ljubljana.
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Chapter 5: Was the team spirit among England players a factor in their tournament success?
Do you not think, though, that that weekend away we all have, where there's no show, we all just go away together for the weekend, that's brilliant?
I used to love the Champions League games.
Now, this is not where... You know when we all go away for the weekend together?
Where's that? Have you not been? No, just... Yeah, I mean, to be fair, I wouldn't want to be invited. I'd say no. If these trips did actually happen, I would say no to them. But, hey, Geoff, and this is absolute truth, this, right? Go on. And you can validate this. Yeah, go on. Who are the last people there? I've been at Sky seven years. Who is the last person there at every Christmas do?
And don't lie. Don't try and make a joke. Just tell the truth. Every year. Well, I don't know, because I've gone by then. You know. Who? I'm always the last there. Are you? Yeah, absolutely. That's because everybody's left you. No, no, it's not true. I'm always the last there. If you're going out on a team night out, you have to be there and you have to stay to the end. That's my rule.
So my view is that's important. It's not important whether we have to go out socially afterwards or anything like that. It's important we do very good shows. I remember one year picking you up off a staircase in a Chinese restaurant and putting you back at the foot of my bed.
No, that was my twin brother. That wasn't me.
LAUGHTER
Now, that sounds a horrific situation, but I helped you enormously.
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