The Overlap | Gary Neville: Secret Management Offers & United Career | Stick to Football EP 28

[Vault Dweller]

Finally the others asking Gary about his career, and asking him to not be so self deprecating or down on his abilities or career.

Neville was a fantastic servant and player for United, won dozens of trophies and played over 600(?) games for his boyhood club while being an excellent player. Just about the perfect career for most!

 

[Glorio]

Neville being confronted for once.

That was really good. I love their rapport and it was good they asked him a lot of qs that folks find confusing when it comes to Gary. He was really honest as well, which was refreshing

 

[sugar_kane]

Keane and Neville know more about leading a football team than Bruno and every person in this thread combined.

He’s a quality player and would be an even better one if he had a proper captain in the team who gave him a bollocking every time he was needlessly wasteful with the ball.

I’d imagine one reason they don’t like him is because he’s quick to shout at a youngster in the squad, but nobody has ever seen him give Rashford a talking to for walking about the place with a puss on his face.

Good footballer - poor captain. It’s not his fault there’s such a lack of leadership at the club but I can see why the likes of Keane and Neville get frustrated with him. A Man United captain needs to be beyond reproach. It’s not simply enough to be a talented player - you have to lead by example in every single game. He hasn’t done that, even if he’s put in a couple of decent displays recently.

I agree that there is some truth in what Keane is saying, but he takes it to a ridiculous extreme - going as far to state Bruno doesn't do anything at all to raise the standards of the players around him, and shooting him down for having won nothing (which is the case for most of our players) ignoring the fact he brings 100% effort every game, delivers consistently in terms of numbers and is always available.

In the Sheffield United game he spent the last section of the game going out of his way to get Wheatley a goal on his debut, he's not someone to bully the younger players he will happily give anyone a bollocking if they're not up to standard which is exactly what Keane used to do.

If anything the ex-United player I'd most compare him to in terms of temperament and effort is Roy Keane himself.

 

[sugar_kane]

I find Rooney has interesting things to say and obviously had a great career worth talking about. However he’s not very eloquent or natural in front of camera and comes across very boring. Shame because there’s interesting stories to tell but he’s bad at telling them.

Yeah I agree he had some good stories when he featured on the Overlap as a guest but he's just got very little charisma and quite a reserved character.

His recent guest spot on Rio's podcast was really awkward, I was almost curling up in pain watching Rio trying to coax conversation out of him.

 

[diarm]

I agree that there is some truth in what Keane is saying, but he takes it to a ridiculous extreme - going as far to state Bruno doesn't do anything at all to raise the standards of the players around him, and shooting him down for having won nothing (which is the case for most of our players) ignoring the fact he brings 100% effort every game, delivers consistently in terms of numbers and is always available.

In the Sheffield United game he spent the last section of the game going out of his way to get Wheatley a goal on his debut, he's not someone to bully the younger players he will happily give anyone a bollocking if they're not up to standard which is exactly what Keane used to do.

If anything the ex-United player I'd most compare him to in terms of temperament and effort is Roy Keane himself.

I don’t think he bullies the younger lads, just that he’s not afraid to give them a bollocking in the way he appears to be with guys like Rashford, Casemiro, Dalot or Wan-Bissaka.

He certainly shows a lot of effort in running around a lot, but is he always working smart? Is he ensuring lads around him are working hard? Is he giving everything when he tries a lazy flick pass in our own half several times a game that concedes possession every time and leads to chances against us?

I’m all for him trying stuff in the final third - he’s the best we have at that and up there with anyone in the league, but he needs to respect possession more in the rest of the field. Keane gave his all every game, he kept everyone else’s standards up and he knew he could hold them accountable because he never, ever gave away possession needlessly himself.

 

[Dan]

Wonder who pulled out as the guest?

 

[Dan_F]

Keane and Neville know more about leading a football team than Bruno and every person in this thread combined.

He’s a quality player and would be an even better one if he had a proper captain in the team who gave him a bollocking every time he was needlessly wasteful with the ball.

I’d imagine one reason they don’t like him is because he’s quick to shout at a youngster in the squad, but nobody has ever seen him give Rashford a talking to for walking about the place with a puss on his face.

Good footballer - poor captain. It’s not his fault there’s such a lack of leadership at the club but I can see why the likes of Keane and Neville get frustrated with him. A Man United captain needs to be beyond reproach. It’s not simply enough to be a talented player - you have to lead by example in every single game. He hasn’t done that, even if he’s put in a couple of decent displays recently.

Neither has the manager and he also picks him every week. You’re asking Bruno to go above and beyond what the manager is doing, it just won’t happen. No other senior players are showing any kind of leadership and that’s not Bruno’s fault. Casemiro is even worse at giving the ball away, Varane is never fit, Onana is conceding 70 goals a season. The rest are all kids, it’s a complete vacuum.

It’s all well and good Keane saying he’s won nothing, Keane got relegated at Nottingham. Does that mean he wasn’t a winner? No it just means that the players around him were crap. At United he was surrounded by Cantona, Hughes, Ince, Bruce, Schmeicel - of course it’s easy to have strong leadership when you’re surrounded by them and everyone is pulling in the same direction.

 

[NinjaZombie]

Neville being confronted for once.

Love that. Neville's been underrated for years by opposition fans but you don't go 20 plus years playing for Alex Ferguson without being a proper player. Love how you can see the type of person Keane is from that video, bigging Neville up and telling him not to knock himself down because of what he's achieved in his career. That's the sort thing I think people overlook Roy Keane for. Leadership is not always about blood and thunder.

 

[Red in STL]

Keane and Neville know more about leading a football team than Bruno and every person in this thread combined.

He’s a quality player and would be an even better one if he had a proper captain in the team who gave him a bollocking every time he was needlessly wasteful with the ball.

I’d imagine one reason they don’t like him is because he’s quick to shout at a youngster in the squad, but nobody has ever seen him give Rashford a talking to for walking about the place with a puss on his face.

Good footballer - poor captain. It’s not his fault there’s such a lack of leadership at the club but I can see why the likes of Keane and Neville get frustrated with him. A Man United captain needs to be beyond reproach. It’s not simply enough to be a talented player - you have to lead by example in every single game. He hasn’t done that, even if he’s put in a couple of decent displays recently.

20 years ago yes, today not so much, 20 years ago you could give a bollocking, the players of that era could handle it, today they can't, they go off and cry on social media and moan about everything

 

[Snow]

They don’t exist where you are???!! Are you in Guantanamo?

If not, send me your details and I’ll get some shipped to you, nobody should be without mini rolls!

Cadbury's is an English thing. We have way more Nordic and US food stuff. We do have some of the chocolates but we also have our own chocolate makers.

 

[horsechoker]

Wonder who pulled out as the guest?

Ryan Giggs

 

[WeePat]

Neville being confronted for once.

This was brilliant. I wonder if United fans watching these guys trade stories about the 90s and 00s and get a little bit depressed with how far away they are from that level? Listening to Neville and Keane talk about those early class of 92 years and how high the standards were for literally anyone coming into the team, the youth set up etc.

 

[WeePat]

Ryan Giggs

It’s his specialty to be fair.

 

[the_cliff]

This was brilliant. I wonder if United fans watching these guys trade stories about the 90s and 00s and get a little bit depressed with how far away they are from that level? Listening to Neville and Keane talk about those early class of 92 years and how high the standards were for literally anyone coming into the team, the youth set up etc.

Have you seen us this season ? We've already hit peak depression.

 

[Snow]

This was brilliant. I wonder if United fans watching these guys trade stories about the 90s and 00s and get a little bit depressed with how far away they are from that level? Listening to Neville and Keane talk about those early class of 92 years and how high the standards were for literally anyone coming into the team, the youth set up etc.

Football comes in circles in England, you can't be on top forever. It's not like some other leagues where if you have a couple of bad years there's still only maybe 1 or 2 clubs that are close to your level financially so you'll always be soon back on top again. People have a go at Villa being 4th like they are working miracles but their financial power is bigger than almost all clubs in all other leagues. They're ready to take advantage of other teams being poor and because of they're financial power their team will not be picked apart after one good season like your Monacos, Valencias, Atalantas, Leipzigs.

 

[Castia]

I say it every week but it’s one of my favourite weekly shows and one of the best football shows ever made.

It never disappoints

 

[Glorio]

This was brilliant. I wonder if United fans watching these guys trade stories about the 90s and 00s and get a little bit depressed with how far away they are from that level? Listening to Neville and Keane talk about those early class of 92 years and how high the standards were for literally anyone coming into the team, the youth set up etc.

Even the extra coaching elements (look they might be doing similar things now) like the rope in terms of keeping the back four together and being taken to senior games specifically to studiously watch the senior player in your position and answer questions after.

It also makes you think, we should be doing the same these days but no one wants the kids picking up bad habits from our current senior lot!

Again, we might be doing these things today but the session with changing flags to get you using your peripheral vision to spot players making runs even though you're watching the ball on the far side - seems like AWB would benefit from that!

They had unbelievable work ethic and took real pride in their work, these boys.

Gary describing how he hardly had any real competition for most of his career, but couldn't allow standards slip and remained insanely driven based on his values and mindset makes me think of the likes of Luke Shaw who consistently need real competition to keep motivated.

 

[redcucumber]

I say it every week but it’s one of my favourite weekly shows and one of the best football shows ever made.

It never disappoints

Agreed, it's really great. Enjoyed the story about Eric Harrison humbling Neville when he got picked for England after 17 games for United.

It's so good that there's a proper alternative to the fan TV guff. Hard to imagine football not having this around now.

 

[Glorio]

Oh ... The other thing one appreciates from this is the levels at play in coaching/managing top teams. The difficulty reading the game at pitch level, Enrique and Simeone almost bullying him on the touch line, and him being completely out of his depth. E.g. when some manager changed tactics mid game and he felt completely lost and unable to comprehend what was happening.

With talk of DOFs, backroom staff, etc, it's almost tempting to feel managerial talent may not be as big a factor as it seems, but this interview just proves it absolutely is.

That said, if I were in his shoes and had an able deputy pitch-side, I'd go and sit a bit higher up to be able to read the game better