Gary Neville

On 24 October, Neville made his 600th appearance and his penultimate start for United in a 2–1 away victory against Stoke City; after receiving a 34th minute yellow card for a foul against Matthew Etherington, Neville was shown leniency seven minutes later for another reckless tackle on the same player, and was substituted at half-time for Wes Brown.

Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit, former player, and co-owner of English Football League club Salford City.

As a player, Neville was a right-back and spent his entire career with Manchester United, serving as club captain for five years.

He is one of the most decorated English and European footballers of all time, having won a total of 20 trophies, including eight Premier League titles and two UEFA Champions League titles.

Neville emerged as part of Alex Ferguson's youth-oriented side of the 1990s (nicknamed Fergie's Fledglings, an updated take on the 1950s equivalent Busby Babes) that included his brother Phil, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes.

Neville joined Manchester United as an apprentice upon leaving school in 1991, and captained the youth side to FA Youth Cup glory in his first season.

He made his senior debut for United on 16 September 1992 in a goalless home draw against Torpedo Moscow in the UEFA Cup.

In the 1994–95 season, Neville became United's first-choice right-back when Paul Parker was ruled out by injury, and remained so until his retirement, although in his first season as a regular player he often found himself on the sidelines as Denis Irwin was switched to right-back with Lee Sharpe (normally a winger) filling the left-back role.

Neville made his international debut for England in 1995 and was first-choice right-back for more than 10 years, representing the nation at three European Championships and two FIFA World Cups.

He is England's most-capped right-back of all time with 85 international appearances.

It was Neville's 99th Champions League appearance.

However, he was not selected for the European Cup final squad on 21 May, though he did join in with the post-match celebrations after United won on penalties following a 1–1 draw with Chelsea.

Instead, Rio Ferdinand and Giggs lifted the trophy together having shared the captaincy during Neville's absence.

Neville scored the first goal of his career in 1997 against Middlesbrough in a 3–3 draw, and he went on to score a total of five league goals for United; against Everton in 1999, Aston Villa in a 2–0 victory on 20 January 2001, the sole goal against Leicester City on 13 April 2004, and his final league goal came a week later when he scored the second in a 2–0 victory over Charlton Athletic on 20 April 2004.

Neville also scored two goals in the UEFA Champions League, the first on 12 March 2003, when he scored the equaliser in a 1–1 draw with FC Basel, and his seventh and final ever United goal against Lyon on 23 November 2004 in Alex Ferguson's 1,000th game in charge of the club, a 2–1 victory.

Neville formed a successful partnership with Beckham on the right wing, regularly contributing assists.

In January 2005, Neville was critical of Nike for starting anti-racism campaign Stand Up Speak Up, accusing them of being involved for good public relations.

Neville made the comments after refusing to wear a training top bearing the logo ahead of a fixture against rivals Arsenal.

Writing in The Independent, journalist Sam Wallace said Neville's refusal, as well as that of teammates Scholes and captain Roy Keane, caused friction between the two teams before the match.

Following Keane's departure in November 2005, Neville was appointed the new club captain.

In January 2006, his actions were the subject of some controversy after his celebration in front of the visiting Liverpool fans at Old Trafford, when he was seen to run from the halfway line towards the opposing fans to celebrate the 90th minute injury-time winning headed goal by United defender Rio Ferdinand.

His actions were criticised by Liverpool and fellow England defender Jamie Carragher, sections of the media and police who blamed him for disturbances between fans after the game.

He was subsequently charged with improper conduct by the FA.

Neville contested this, asking if it was preferable for players to act like "robots" and show no emotions.

He was fined £5,000 and warned about his future conduct.

Neville recovered from an injury suffered against Bolton Wanderers in March 2007 and in his first match back, a reserve game against Everton in January 2008, he scored a rare goal in the 21st minute of the game which helped Manchester United to a 2–2 draw.

On 9 April 2008, Neville made his long-awaited comeback against Roma in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford, coming on as an 81st-minute substitute for Anderson; Neville was welcomed back to the pitch with a standing ovation, and was promptly given the captain's armband.

Neville started his first game in 17 months when he captained Manchester United for the 2008 FA Community Shield against Portsmouth on 10 August 2008.

He then made another start against Zenit Saint Petersburg in the UEFA Super Cup, before making his first start at home since his injury against Villarreal in the opening group game of the 2008–09 Champions League.

On 21 September 2008, Neville started his first league game in almost 18 months when he played against Chelsea.

On 27 October 2009, Neville was sent off for a tackle on Adam Hammill in United's 2–0 away win against Barnsley in the League Cup Fourth Round.

Neville extended his stay at Old Trafford until June 2010.

Neville added another medal to his honours list on 28 February 2010 when he came on as a substitute for Rafael in the 2–1 League Cup final win over Aston Villa.

He did feature in enough league games to qualify for what would have been his ninth title medal, but United were beaten to the Premier League title by Chelsea who finished ahead of them by a single point.

Neville signed a new one-year contract in April 2010.

Having made only sporadic appearances in the last couple of seasons, Neville stepped down as team captain in September 2010 in preference of a more-regular first-team player, usually Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić or Patrice Evra, although he remained as club captain off the pitch.

After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a commentator for Sky Sports, until he took over the head coach position at Valencia in 2015.

He was also assistant manager for the England national team from 2012 to 2016.

Neville is the older brother of twin siblings: his brother Phil Neville is also a former long-serving player for Manchester United, while his sister Tracey Neville is a retired netball international.

After being sacked by the club in 2016, he returned to his position as a pundit for Sky Sports later that year.