Gary Neville

1991–2004

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. 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. 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 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…

Neville made his first appearance for England in 1995 when he was picked by Terry Venables for the friendly against Japan. On 23 May 1996, he was joined in the England team by Phil Neville for a match against China; they had also appeared together in the 1996 FA Cup Final two weeks earlier and thus were the first pair of brothers to play together in an FA Cup-winning side and for England in the same season since Hubert and Francis Heron of Wanderers in 1876, 120 years earlier. He was subsequently selected at right-back for his country by five different coaches. The form of Manchester City's Micah Richards, Liverpool's Glen Johnson and Neville's Manchester United teammate Wes Brown placed his position in the England team under threat in the latter years of his career. Neville had been the youngest first-choice player in the England first team during his debut tournament, Euro 96, playing in each game until the semi-final, for which he was suspended after receiving a yellow card in two separate games. England were knocked out by the eventual winners, Germany, in a penalty shootout. In June 1997, he participated in the Tournoi de France, the friendly international football tournament held in France as a warm-up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He also played in the 1998 World Cup under the tenure of Glenn Hoddle as manager. As "a bit of a sceptic", Neville did not see Eileen Drewery, the faith healer Hoddle had brought into the England squad. Neville also played at Euro 2000 during…

An experienced and dedicated footballer, regarded as one of England's greatest right-backs, and as one of the best Premier League full-backs of his generation, Gary Neville was an aggressive, tenacious, and hard-tackling player, known for his work-rate, professionalism, determination, and consistency as a defender; due to his positional sense, he was also capable of playing as a centre-back on occasion. Under England manager Venables at Euro 96, Neville was also required to play in other different roles depending on the opponent, including as a right-sided wing-back and winger, in addition to his typical roles of right-back and right-sided centre-back. Although he was not the quickest, tallest, strongest, most talented or most technically gifted player, he was a reliable, traditional defensive-minded right-back, known in particular for his tactical intelligence and ability to read the game, as well as his stamina, work-ethic, authoritative presence on the pitch, and leadership, which enabled him to excel in this role; as such, he has been described as an "old-fashioned" defender, due to his combative playing style. During his career, Neville also formed a notable partnership with David Beckham down the right flank at Manchester United: he would often carry up the ball, lay it off to his teammate, and subsequently make overlapping runs to advance into more offensive positions, from which he could receive passes and deliver accurate crosses, providing an additional attacking…

England assistant manager

Neville, who holds UEFA Pro Coaching Licences, was appointed to the England senior team coaching staff by newly appointed manager Roy Hodgson on 14 May 2012 along with Ray Lewington and goalkeeping coach Dave Watson, signing a four-year contract with the FA. This saw him on the coaching team for Euro 2012, and was met with the backing of former England and Manchester United teammate David Beckham, who called his appointment a "shrewd move". Neville continued to work as assistant manager of England through the 2014 World Cup and subsequent Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

Valencia

Neville was appointed as head coach at Valencia in Spain on 2 December 2015. Neville's brother Phil had previously been caretaker manager and continued to work with his brother at the club; Neville also retained his England assistant coaching role while at Valencia. The decision to hire Neville was met with much surprise in Spain, due to his lack of prior experience, and as he was not fluent in Spanish. On 9 December, Neville managed his first game in charge of Valencia, suffering a 2–0 defeat against Lyon in the Champions League; as a result, Valencia finished third in their group, and were demoted to the UEFA Europa League. On 3 February 2016, Valencia lost 7–0 away to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg. This came after the team had gone eight games without a victory in La Liga since Neville took over, leading to criticism from the press as…