GARY NEVILLE has revealed his pain over David Beckham’s Manchester United exit and the Class of 92 “gang breaking up” that led to tears at Sir Alex Ferguson’s house.
The Old Trafford legend, 45, stayed at the club throughout his entire career.
Gary Neville has revealed how hard it was to see the Class of 92 quit the club during their careers
But the rest of his Class of 92 pals all left at one stage or another, including brother Phil – with Gary opening up about how tough it was to see them quit.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Off Script podcast, Neville said: “I remember David leaving; he whispered to me on the pitch at the end of a game, and the newspapers lip-read it.
“I think his words were: ‘I think they want to sell me.’
“At the time, Real Madrid and Barcelona were in for him. I said to him: ‘Just sign a contract.’
“I think he wanted to go and experience one of these teams. He always saw himself beyond Manchester.
“As much as he loved United and was absolutely obsessed with the club, he just always felt like he had an incredible vision with what he wanted to do with his life.
“It didn’t cause any friction in our friendship. I never felt that at all.
“I thought that when he left it was probably for the best because the relationship was getting a bit fraught, just generally you could see it was coming to an end.
“To this day my view has been that it was good for both parties, David and the club.
“But at the time I was devastated because it felt like the gang were breaking up.”
TEARS IN THE FAMILY
Neville went on to reveal how tough it was to watch the rest of the Class of 92 quit one-by-one as he stayed at Old Trafford.
The ex-England star continued: “I remember exactly the moment when Phil [Neville] and Butty [Nicky Butt] left.
“We were on tour in America with Nicky – we knew what we were all thinking all of the time – and Nicky had become a little bit more frustrated with his 25, 30 games a season, being in and out of the team.
“He wanted to go and play for Newcastle and be No1, not a No3 or No4. He left that tour, going back to England to sign for Newcastle.
“The only feeling I’ve ever had like that in football is when Gazza, Phil and Nicky were left out of Glenn Hoddle’s England squad in 1998.
“When you see your team-mates leaving you, you know they’ve gone, it’s extremely sad.
“Nicky leaving was a big disappointment, but you know it’s going to happen one day.”
Neville continued: “Then Phil rang me up one Sunday and told me he’d made the decision to leave.
“I said: ‘It’s a big call, you’re playing for United and winning trophies,’ but he’d got to the same place as Nicky.
“After Phil rang me up, we actually went round to Sir Alex’s house that night, the first time we’d been round, and went and saw him, and I remember there being a few tears among the family.
“Even now I feel a little bit emotional, because we’d been at United since we were young kids.
“I don’t remember a lot of my football matches, but I remember David, Nicky and Phil leaving like it was yesterday.”
In the same episode of the podcast, Neville also revealed no other club ever made a move for him in the transfer window – and that he wouldn’t have quit United anyway.
David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Phil Nevile and Nicky Butt star in Class of 92 adidas advert
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
