Phil Neville: A career of two halves

Phil Neville has announced his retirement and he will not be adding to his massive account of 505 Premier League appearances. The versatile player who devoted himself to Manchester United in his early professional career, along with brother Gary Neville, moved on to Everton and spent eight years at the club where he became a potent leader, often clashing against his former club. Neville’s retirement was expected as he had signaled that he was looking forward to a coaching/media career. He is currently pursuing a UEFA A-license in coaching and intends to spend some time on the grass even though he has ended his playing career at all levels. Neville has been linked to a back-room coaching job at Manchester United in a reunion with his Everton Boss David Moyes. However, Neville has not ruled out punditry – which has been the way brother Gary went – as he is likely to cover the World Cup with the BBC.

Neville made his first appearance for United in the 1994-95 season and was quickly dubbed as one of “Fergie’s fledglings”. However, he made his mark the next season when he was consistently employed by Ferguson and made 24 appearances that season as a 19-year-old. This was a promising start for a player who would gradually become an active member of the United squad for the next 10 years and make a stunning total of 386 appearances, winning virtually all trophies. Neville had to face some competition at the club, especially till the early 2000′s from Denis Irwin who regularly filled the left-back position. But Neville proved himself as a bits and pieces player, filling in at different positions and making himself useful to the manager. By the time Neville made his move to Everton at the age of 28, he had already won 6 Premier League titles, three FA Cups and a memorable UEFA Champions League.

Neville’s career at Everton began with a five-year contract for a fee in excess of 3.5 million pounds. He quickly became a favorite of the Toffees as they appointed him the captain for the 2007-08 season. David Moyes heaped a lot of praise on him for his work-rate, willingness to fill in multiple roles and his leadership on and off pitch. This was a time in his career when he constantly came face to face with brother Gary against his former club Manchester United, giving the people some memorable moments. One such memorable moment came late-on in his Everton career as Phil rolled in a penalty to knock out United from the FA cup semi-finals of 2009. Everton finished runners up in this competition and even though that was the closest Phil Neville got to a trophy at the blue side of Merseyside, he achieved respect from all footballing quarters in England.

Neville has constantly reiterated the critical roles Alex Ferguson and David Moyes played in his playing career and continues to reminisce about Ferguson’s wisdom, post retirement. He said, “He gave us a great lesson when we were doing my B license, with Roy Keane, Gary, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs. When you are a footballer at Manchester United, you are probably looking for a bit of a short-cut or can we get someone in to do the sessions for us, sign it off, and he gave us not a rollicking, but said ‘no fast track to coaching or management.” If Neville does join Moyes in some capacity as a coach once he returns from his stint with the English U-21 side that has been playing at the European Championships, he would have adhered to what Fergie said to him.

Neville’s England career, though he made 59 appearances for his country, was not as successful as he would have wanted it to be. He was left out of the English squad for the 2002 World Cup and though recalled for the Euro 2004 competition, his stint was restricted. He was on the margins all along during Capello’s reign, but only on the margins. In an interesting incident, Neville sought consolation from an unlikely source - Paul Gascoigne – when both of them were left out of the World cup squad of 1998. Though Neville’s international career was marked by these disappointments, he wore his shirt with pride and he did so a considerable number of times. Phil Neville will continue to be cherished by both Manchester United and Everton fans and we will be seeing enough of him in different roles as a media person, pundit and coach.