Gary Neville opens up on “brutal” experiences with Peter Schmeichel | OneFootball

Former Manchester United fullback Gary Neville has claimed he was told by Peter Schmeichel that he wasn’t good enough to play for the club.

The Englishman would go on to enjoy a trophy-laden time at Old Trafford, playing a mammoth 602 times for United and winning 21 major trophies in the process.

Whilst not really being regarded as one of the most naturally talented footballers of his era, Neville was widely praised for his worth ethic and desire to stick to basics to allow others around him to flourish.

Fans who were lucky enough to witness the Red Devils in the 1990s will remember his wonderful partnership with David Beckham down the right hand side of the pitch, as Neville would regularly overlap Beckham, acting as a decoy, or sometimes providing an inch perfect cross for the waiting forwards himself.

However, it was not always clear that the now 49 year old would make it at the club.

Speaking to Sky Sport’s The Overlap the pundit told a story of how legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel brutally gave him some choice words about his early performances for the club.

“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. 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.”

Surprisingly the event happened in 1998, years after Neville had broken through and won trophies at senior level, demonstrating the incredibly high standards which encompassed Old Trafford at the time.

“This was in 1998, he told me, three years after I’d broken 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.”

The former England international went on to explain that due to sharing the dressing room with some huge names in the club’s history, he felt somewhat of an imposter in his first few years at the club.

“The first team dressing room I went into had [Gary] Pallister, [Steve] Bruce, [Eric] Cantona, [Mark] Hughes, [Paul] Ince, Roy [Keane]”.

“It was massively overwhelming, in terms of the presence of the people in the dressing room. Mark Hughes was my hero; Bryan Robson was still at the club when I made my Premier League debut. I’ve got goosebumps of me being in there and it scares me to death.”

“I felt like I didn’t belong [in the first team dressing room].”

It speaks to Neville’s character and work ethic that he was able to positively responds to Schmeichel’s criticisms and push himself to eventually go on to captain his boyhood team and play an integral role in one of the most successful periods in the club’s history.