Gary Neville has revealed the Premier League club he always ‘respected’ and would have joined if for whatever reason his Manchester United career had come to an end.
Neville went through his entire career as a one-club man, racking up over 600 appearances for the Red Devils and winning eight Premier League titles under Sir Alex Ferguson.
The ex-England defender spent two decades at Old Trafford after coming through the club’s academy, establishing himself as an all-time Manchester United great and one of the most decorated players in history.
Speaking on The Overlap with Sky Mobile, Neville insisted he ‘never’ wanted to leave Manchester United and is still ‘so proud’ to be a one-club man.
‘I admire the lads that left in a way and how they speak different languages and played in different leagues,’ he said.
‘But I never wanted to leave. I’m so proud to say I played for Manchester United and that’s it. Full stop.
‘I remember when I was 30 I decided I would retire if United didn’t offer me a new contract. Leaving United at that age never seemed to go well.’
However, Neville also named the one club he could have envisaged joining if for some reason he did have to leave his boyhood club.
Asked by Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher which other club he would have joined, Neville said: ‘I’m going to say Arsenal.
‘Arsenal were the club that I genuinely had massive respect for. When I went to Highbury and you used to walk in that old entrance with the marble hall, I used to think it’s a club of proper tradition.
‘I used to love the blazers that they used to wear and there is a resemblance in alignment for what United were at that time with the blazers and tradition.’
Carragher is another proud one-club man, having played more than 700 games across his 17-year spell at Anfield.
Pressed on the same question, Carragher said: ‘I’m going to go for Tottenham and the reason I say Tottenham is because when I was a kid they were the first team I was aware of besides Everton and Liverpool.
‘My first season watching football was 1984-85 and Everton and Tottenham were going for the league.
‘I always remember this as a kid – and it wouldn’t happen now with phones – as soon as the Everton game would finish, there was always a betting shop that if I lose you in the ground, to your dad, go to the betting shop.
‘I always remember even as a kid, I was only seven or eight, it was “how have Tottenham got on?” That was the first thing in the back of my mind.’
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