England coach is adamant he will continue to point out players' errors in his dual role as a forthright TV pundit
There is only one flicker of awkwardness before Gary Neville ? England coach, television pundit, former footballer and, increasingly, people's favourite ? is back in control and you are reminded what a slick operator he is these days.
He has just been reminded that back in March he was asked in a magazine interview to select his England squad for Euro 2012 and advocated that they went almost exclusively with younger players or, as he put it, those "not tarnished by failure and cynicism". There was no place for John Terry or Frank Lampard. Neville wanted 4-4-2 to be abandoned and, when it came to his team, neither Andy Carroll nor Ashley Young made the cut. Which, as he knows now, is far removed from the thinking of the man who, two months later, would invite him to be part of his coaching staff.
Neville clearly has different philosophies from Roy Hodgson but, as he points out, that is not necessarily a bad thing. "In the past I think England managers have invited friends to be around them at times. The thing that Roy said to me was: 'I don't want someone to come alongside me and be a yes man.'"
Anyone who has caught Neville on Sky will know he is anything but the modern-day equivalent of Phil Neal, Graham Taylor's famously agreeable right-hand man on the infamous "Do I Not Like That?" documentary. There are 23 players in Hodgson's squad and, when Neville goes through the names, he eventually concludes "in one way or another, I've probably had to highlight every one of them for a mistake they've made or something they should be doing better".
It is just that Neville has become so revered in the world of punditry, added to his achievements over two decades at Old Trafford, he commands a rare level of respect within the game. So he is going to continue on Sky and if he has to criticise one of the England players, then so be it. "The mistake is highlighted anyway, there are probably 100 million watching around the world, the manager has probably pointed it out and the players will know in their own mind if they've made a mistake anyway. So the fact Gary Neville might be sat in the commentary box pointing out their mistake, I think it's the least of their worries, to be honest."
Hodgson, like so many others, could not help but be impressed by Neville's insight and opinion. But they had never properly met or spoken before. When the FA executive Adrian Bevington got in touch on Hodgson's behalf Neville admits he did not know what to think. "I got a text saying: 'I want to speak to you about something confidential.' I thought: 'What have I done wrong?'"
Neville has not, after all, always been a friend of the FA, although the politician in him now says "there are an awful lot of good people at the FA, and always have been". Hodgson rang him at home "and it felt like a special moment in my life; an important moment, is how I've described it. I don't get emotional, I've never cried at a football match, I've never been somebody who gets too overboard, or too down, but I knew it was something important and never in a million years would I have dreamt of not doing it."
He knew, too, that he should ask what his former manager at Manchester United thought about it. "I knew I wanted to do it but I also wanted Sir Alex [Ferguson] to be one of the first people to know. So I went to see him. I was panicking, as you do, walking into his office. It turned out he'd known about it 10 days before me, as per usual. Which is typical."
The misconception about Neville is that he did not enjoy his international career. Sitting in his England tracksuit, he reflects: "It hurt, absolutely, because it's a huge regret, a disappointment, a huge missed opportunity. You never like looking back and thinking [blows his cheeks out] ? and that's what it is with England. You look back and think: 'If only we had done this, or done that.'" Yet England's failures would not hurt if he did not cherish his own involvement so much. "It was a completely different feeling to playing for United even though my life was United, as you know. Playing for England was a special thing."
The current squad, he admits, has brought "the lowest [public] expectation that I've ever known for an England team". He and Hodgson ? one 37, the other 64 ? have plenty they agree on, such as wanting nothing to do with England's Wag culture. "That won't happen again," Neville says, thinking back to the 2006 World Cup. "Between 2002 and 2007 everyone got carried away with everything in life. It is a different world now. We are here to play football. We are here to work."
Where manager and coach differ is that, before Hodgson's appointment, Neville was happily recommending that whoever took over from Fabio Capello (his choice was Harry Redknapp) should keep only Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney from the old guard because "now is the time to clear the decks and go in with a fresh approach". His own 23-man squad features only 12 of the players who will actually be on the plane to Krakow on Wednesday.
"I've said a lot over the years; if you went through my back catalogue you'd have some fun," he says. "But two things. One, Roy did want to get in the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck and Jones. The boy Butland is coming in now, when it would have been easy to bring in a more experienced goalkeeper, and there are other younger players who would have been in contention but are injured, like Walker, Smalling, Wilshere, Rodwell and others.
"Secondly, having spoken to, and listened to, the boss, he wanted to pay respect to the players who had got the team to the tournament and worked so hard over a two-year period. It makes sense when you listen to him. And you have to remember I'm not the manager, I'm the coach."
Possibly the first one who has been appointed, at least in part, on the back of his television work. "Twelve months ago people were asking how I would ever be able to commentate on a Manchester City or Liverpool match and praise them or criticise them without it being seen as pro-Manchester United. I'd like to think I've overcome those fears. I've been fair across the board with everybody and, seriously, if you'd said to me at the start of the season I'd be sat there, on 30 April, having to congratulate Manchester City, who had just beaten Manchester United, as well as being critical of the Manchester United players who had made mistakes ... Then two weeks later I'd be sat there again, in the last match of the season, and there are 40,000 people turning around to let me know [City had won the league] ? I've proven I can be fair and honest and, as long as you do that, I don't think it's a problem."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/31/euro-2012-gary-neville-england
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