Manchester United legend Gary Neville has revealed his stunned reaction after one of his former England teammates screamed in his face during a heated confrontation.
Gary Neville appeared on the latest Stick to Football show alongside Jamie Carragher, Ian Wright, Roy Keane, Jill Scott and former England teammate Frank Lampard.
The 48-year-old opened up on England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’ and why they never lifted any major silverware, despite the high expectations placed on them.
Keane admitted during the episode that former Manchester United teammate Paul Scholes didn’t enjoy going away on international duty with England at the time.
Speaking on the problems of the Golden Generation, Neville opened up about the club rivalry players had and how it potentially impacted the England dressing room.
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Neville on heated confrontation in United match
Neville recalled the famous United match against Arsenal in 2005, which involved a tunnel bust-up between Gunners hero Patrick Vieira and Red Devils legend Keane.
United defeated Arsenal 4-2 in the Premier League clash at Highbury, but Neville opened up on how former England teammate Ashley Cole confronted him.
Neville described Cole as “placid” and a “brilliant lad” whom he sat alongside in the England dressing room, only to see another side of him in the United match.
“Roy, the tunnel game. Roy, the tunnel game at Arsenal,” he said on The Overlap.
“That game, you remember how Arsenal were that game? They were so fired up before the game.
“Arsenal score the first goal, don’t they? No, the 4-2, we [Man United] won in the end. We win the game.
“Ashley Cole, I’m literally sat next to Ashley Cole in the dressing room for England, for six, seven, eight years.
“Ash comes up to me screaming in my face, ‘You f*****g,’ after they score the first goal.”
Neville added: “Ashley Cole, the most placid. Ash is a brilliant lad, isn’t he? Ash comes screaming in my face [and] I’m like, ‘What the f**k?’
“So, literally a couple of weeks later, you’re literally sat there next to him shaking hands. There was so much going on!”
Neville on failure of England’s Golden Generation
Neville, who made his England debut under Terry Venables, made 85 appearances for the Three Lions and featured at two World Cup tournaments for his country.
The United legend agreed with Chelsea hero Lampard that England players “disappointed” former Three Lions boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.
“We really liked him, but to be fair, I’ve always taken the same opinion as Frank – I look back and think as players that we disappointed him [Eriksson],” Neville admitted.
“We fell below our standards and other countries had great players.
“But then I just look at how we played under Terry [Venables] in Euro 96 or maybe Glenn [Hoddle], I think we were rigid for about eight years as you [Carragher] were at Liverpool – quite rigid, weren’t you? – and sort of compact in defence.
“It’s very difficult to get out from that – the ball was being kept off us by teams that were inferior to us.
“You wonder whether it would’ve been different if we’d have gone for a more sort of progressive system or something. It’s a question.”
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