Manchester United icon Peter Schmeichel once told Gary Neville he was a “risk” to the Red Devils’ squad.
Neville, who was part of the famous Class of ’92, didn’t quite have the support of his United team-mates when he broke into the side in 1994 – with Schmeichel, who turned 61 earlier this week (November 18), confronting him at a Christmas party.
Speaking on the Stick To Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Neville once explained how Schmeichel pulled him to one side at the team’s Christmas party in 1998 to tell him he wasn’t “good enough” and that he would “cause problems” for United’s defence.
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“I was always vocal on the pitch, I’d give loads of information to my centre back and right winger, I’d never shut up on the pitch,” Neville revealed. “But in terms of standing up to people, [Peter] Schmeichel was brutal to me in the early days in training.
“He told me one Christmas do, that he thought I was a risk. He said that Paul Parker was an amazing defender with a great back four, and that I was the first person to break into that back four and he saw me as a risk, thinking that I wouldn’t be good enough and would cause problems.
(Image: Getty Images)
“This was in 1998, he told me, three years after I’d broke in. Roy [Keane] was like that, [Paul] Ince was like that, the boss [Sir Alex Ferguson] was like that, it was almost like an initiation,” he added.
“Eric Harrison said to me after 17 games in the first team, and I was picked for England, that you’re not a Manchester United player until you’ve played 100 matches, you need three seasons.”
(Image: Getty Images)
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Neville explained that all players had to build a “three-season bank of games” before earning the total respect of the dressing room. “[Ryan] Giggs was so quiet, [Paul] Scholes, Butty [Nicky Butt], all of us – we were mice for the first four or five years in the dressing room.”
Neville went on to play over 600 times for United, and skippered the side between 2005 and 2010 before hanging it up in 2011. He retired with eight Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues and three FA Cup wins under his belt. So not quite the “risk” after all.