There have been times when I reflected on my international career and just thought: ‘Well, that was a massive waste of time.’
At Euro 2000, we could have played for
30 years and we’d never have succeeded. We weren’t good enough, not by a
million miles. My brother would take terrible stick for the way we went
out, with him giving away a penalty against Romania, but he did us a
favour by sparing us any more punishment.
I told him repeatedly that he had nothing to feel bad about. ‘We were s***, Phil. We were going home soon enough anyway.’
Great attitude Gary
I regard
myself as patriotic but, truth be told, playing for England was a bonus.
Winning for my club was always the most important thing, and given a
straight choice of a European Cup with United or a European Championship
with England, it’s United every time.So, not that patriotic, then, Gary.
I thought I might even be captain
when David Beckham missed a friendly against Paraguay in April 2002.
Sven sat me down at the front of the coach on the way to the ground.
‘Gary, I’m going to make Michael Owen captain tonight.’ Typical Sven, he
tried to be diplomatic. He practically told me that I was a more
natural captain than Michael. He was almost apologising to me.
So
why didn’t he give me the job? Nothing personal against Michael, but
there were other players, like Rio Ferdinand, Gerrard, Frank Lampard and
me, who were more obvious contenders. But Michael was the bigger name,
and Sven could be a little weak like that.
Possibly your attitude, Gary?
Comments
The problem is we don't like to hear it yet we all think it,
Gary Neville was a great full back, you used to get the ridiculous comments he wouldn't have played for England if he didn't play for man utd , yet those saying it didn't understand that if he was a shite as they say he wouldn't have played for man u ,
Fair play to him turning into a great pundit, I enjoy him on there and I thought he would be crap,
I agree with everything he says, if i was a pro footballer winning things with my club over a season would mean more to me than with England,
As a fan i want england to win something more than charlton but that's my opinion Neville is entitled to his
There's nothing there that I disagree with, in fact it makes sense.
-- At Euro 2000 we were shit and the tournament only came to life for me once we went home, I think the four semi-finalists were France, Portugal, Italy and the Dutch, four great footballing sides who would have embarrassed England had we come got that far. Yet our mypoic press always builds these things up and treats the customary rude awakening as a national tragedy.
-- In football club comes before country, very few players put country first and then club, that's the way it is. Our own Dean Kiely retired from international football to prolong his club career and his earning potential and plenty of good footballers have never had a decent look in because they played for the wrong club team. How often did football fans despair when seeing Lampard and Gerrard continually get picked when it was blindingly obvious that their games and skills did not complement one another? Our very own Darren Bent somehow managed to miss being picked for England in the 2004 WC squad despite being top goal scorer in the prem that year. Yet SGE preferred to take Walcott, an untried and untested player, who just happened to play for a bigger club. Playing for England is not about patriotism or pride, but a matter of club politics. The players know that and so do we fans.
-- Why didn't he get the job as captain, I think he's on the money here again. Owen was the bright, attractive player who you could rely to look good at the toss-up, but not really a leader of men or the type to lead by example. As with everything SGE did it was a political decision.
Like and respect Neville a lot, he was a fine RB and been impressed by him as a pundit. Seems to talk sense and despite his United bias, already prefer him to Redknapp. From the passage above, it is hard to disagree with any of it and looking forward to reading his book.
On another note, Theo Walcott also had a book out, least Neville has something to talk about.
Still think he's a sourpuss though....!
Lol
This. Spot on OooohAaaaah
Paul Ince has launched a stinging attack on the England team, claiming
players no longer consider it a privilege to play for their country.
"Playing for England used to be the pinnacle of your career. Now it's
not that important as we have the Champions League and Premier League."
Is that the same Paul Ince who refused to take a penalty in the Euro '96 semi? The same one who sat with his back to the shoot out? The Guvnor??? Pah!