A Man Utd legend retires

Manchester United legend, Gary Neville, announced his retirement from football last night with immediate effect. For 20 years, Gary Neville was the best right back in the Premier League and one of the finest in all of Europe. Determined, passionate, tough-tackling and tenacious, Gary Neville was one of my favourite players and Manchester United through and through.

Here are some reactions from foremer players and the media. Some of the media’s compliments were a back-handed, but what do you expect? Gazza wasn’t and still isn’t the msot loved footballer, but he is massively respected.

Richard Williams – The Guardian
“Passion” is the most overused and overvalued term in football, but it really was the special quality of Gary Neville the player. Never short of an opinion on either side of the dressing-room door, forever railing against injustice, real or imagined, he was Manchester United and he was England, through and through.

Rio Ferdinand
Gary Neville has retired from football…the best right back in premier league history #fact. Gonna be a loss to our dressing room #banter !

Ian Ladyman – The Daily Fail
Did I like him? Not really. Have I seen better full backs? Certainly. Wld I have wanted him in my team? Yes

Steve Bartram – MUTV
Absolute club legend; a model of how far determination and endeavour gets you. A very able defender, but commitment took him to the top.

Oliver Kay – The Times
Micah Richards and Glen Johnson are far more gifted than Neville ever was, but Neville’s attitude made him a far better player. Overachiever

Lou Macari and Arthur Albiston spoke exclusively to ManUtd.com as the news spread on Wednesday evening:

Lou Macari (United midfielder, 1973-84)

“Without a doubt, Gary Neville has been one of the club’s greatest ever players, certainly in the top ten or twenty.

“When you saw the important games coming around, the ones that really meant something, and the trophies were at stake, Gary was always determined and dogged, and everything you want in a player, to make sure it happened for him and for his team-mates.

“I’ve got to say there aren’t enough Gary Nevilles in the game. If there were, the game would be better. A lot of the youngsters would be better off listening to and watching players like Gary Neville and picking up good habits from him.

“Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are a dying breed and it really is sad to see that quality and that type of person and player departing the scene.

“When great players have left in the past, we’ve always doubted whether they can be replaced – but they have been. I’m not so sure you can replace the three boys I’ve been talking about and you can throw the manager in with them as well. I don’t care who comes along in the next couple of years to replace Sir Alex, Ryan, Paul and Gary. To replace them to the same level of consistency is not going to happen unfortunately.”

Arthur Albiston (United defender, 1974-88)

“Gary’s stopped playing at the very top level. Credit to him for that – it’s not easy to play for Manchester United for almost 20 years, until you’re almost 36 years of age. He’s had a tremendous career.

“I don’t think many people saw Gary’s retirement coming. At least not yet. I thought we might see him call it a day at the end of the season, just because he’s not played an awful lot of football this term. But perhaps he feels he can no longer give the sort of performances that are required at Manchester United.

“It’s a very difficult decision to retire and at the end of the day you’re the only person who knows when the time is right to stop playing.

“I just hope everybody realises how fortunate we’ve been to have watched him. Gary was one of the most consistent performers in the English league for many, many seasons and could always be relied upon in big games. He’s admitted on many occasions that he isn’t the most naturally gifted footballer, but I think he sells himself a bit short: you don’t play more than 600 games for the biggest club in the world without being a top, top player.

“It’s a sad day and I know a lot of United fans will be upset. Fans of other clubs? I’m not so sure! Gary always wore his heart on his sleeve and made no secret of his love for United. You could see how much it meant to Gary whenever the club won trophies. We’ll miss him, that’s for sure.”

Born: February 18, 1975, Bury

Manchester United career (1992-2011): 602 games, 7 goals.

Honours: Eight Premier League titles

(1996, ’97, ’99, 2000, ’01, ’03, ’07, ’09)

Three FA Cups (1996, ’99, 2004)

Two League Cups (2006, ’10)

Champions League (1999). 85 caps for England.

September 1992: Makes United debut against Torpedo Moscow.

June 1995: Makes England debut against Japan at Wembley.

May 1997: Scores first United goal in a 3-3 draw with Middlesbrough.

January 2011: Makes final United appearance in 2-1 win at West Brom.