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Gary Neville, hero or zero?

Published by Ian John on January 21, 2010

With the news that the FA is “looking into” Gary Neville’s behaviour during the Carling Cup Semi Final with Manchester City, basically his single finger gesture to Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez after Tevez had scored the penalty to bring Manchester City level. It’s now time to ask the question, is Gary Neville a hero, or a zero?

I ask after reading a piece this week by Daily Mirror columnist Michael Calvin who informed us just why Gary Neville was actually a top bloke and;

“an antidote to the badge-kissing, soundbite-spouting charade that passes for loyalty in the modern game.”

The whole article was just one long masturbatory celebration of the spiky right back. Excusing his misdemeanours because;

“He cares, you see. He cares beyond reason. He can’t stop himself from winding up his enemies, real or imagined.”

Such bilious rationalisation of Neville’s imbecility frankly made me want to make a similar hand gesture as Gary did to Carlos Tevez, but let me explain my rancour fully.

I admire what Neville has achieved in the game. For a player with relatively limited abilities he has made the most of his undoubted talents by sheer hard work, effort and application alone. For that he should be lauded, admired and praised. No doubt. As a footballer he has done well. Admittedly he is not my idea of the ideal right full back, but I can see why managers have always been able to rely on him as a player. As a football player, Gary Neville earns and receives my respect.

It is as a person, that he loses it.

He loses it because he cannot divorce himself from the petty “they are all against us” siege mentality so favoured by his manager Sir Alex Ferguson (whom Neville clearly models himself upon). He loses respect from me for inciting fans of Liverpool and Manchester City by deliberately inciting them at every available opportunity. He loses all respect for me for bad-mouthing a former team mate in the press simply because “Fergie said something similar” and so he trotted out the union line.

Furthermore, he is totally unapologetic for this. He believes it is his inalienable right to comment, criticise other professionals, who possess a great deal more talent than he does, simply because they don’t share his views over which colour of shirt to wear in Manchester. If you have a problem with that, then this is your problem. He believes it wins him the unending love of the United faithful, by parading around in front of Liverpool or Man City fans, by slating rivals in the press, by endorsing every single thing his manager says. He’s Fergie’s lapdog, a mongrel amonst the coiffured poodles, who barks to keep them in line and snarls at every passer by who deigns not to share the same view as he and his master do.

To cap it all, on Tuesday night when the person he so vocally criticised in the press as not being good enough for his club, clearly proved that he was, Neville retaliated by giving him the finger. How mature. What a witty riposte!

Why didn’t Neville do his talking on the pitch like Tevez did?

Because he can’t. He isn’t good enough. If he had have been, he would have been playing instead of the woefully inept Rafael.

Which is why Neville’s main contribution to United’s season thus far has been with his mouth, rather than his feet and that has been the case for some considerable time.

But soon, when he retires, he can join the long list of former Manchester United stars who can see no wrong in what the club does, says or offends, who think the sun shines upon Old Trafford first and everywhere else only because it is forced to. He’ll be like he is now somewhat. A figurehead, the fan in the squad, the mouthpiece of a generation and an irksome, tiresome, belligerant bore.

I’d rather watch Carlos Tevez than Berbatov and Owen anyday and if you are really honest about it Gary… So would you.

Image Courtesy of ***Atilathehun *** at Flickr.com

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