GARY NEVILLE was at the centre of many battles between Manchester United and Arsenal during his playing days.
And it seems some of those rivalry feelings between the Red Devils and Gunners have not dissipated, after Martin Keown revealed why he refuses to go on Neville’s podcast.
Keown, 58, won three Premier League titles with Arsenal including the Invincibles campaign.
The defender was involved deeply in his own way in the era-defining rivalry.
Arguably his most notable flashpoint being when he screamed in Ruud van Nistelrooy’s face when his penalty hit the bar to ensure Arsenal remain undefeated in the league during the 2003/04 season.
Speaking on That Peter Crouch Podcast, Keown recounted the battles between the two sides, including the Patrick Vieira v Roy Keane debate.
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He said: “It’s like ranking siblings. I think without Patrick, he was the link. It was like a ladder to the goal.
“You’d have to go into Patrick and they talk about Roy Keane, I’d put him ahead of Roy Keane. That’s a massive debate and people can say what they want.
“Listen, this guy had everything. People used to look at him in the tunnel and that 97/98 group were pioneers for how we were going to play.
“They’d look at him in the tunnel and go ‘wow, he’s even bigger in real life than on the TV, we can’t kick him.’
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“I think he reacted too much to a lot of that and then I had to become his minder and got sent off myself against [Paulo] Di Canio. We had lots of battles to keep Patrick there.
“You had Patrick in midfield and Dennis Bergkamp, then you brought in Pires – what a talent.
“Ray Parlour was granite and interweaving in all these teams. Then Sol Campbell came and worked with me and Tony [Adams].
“On the left-hand side we had Marc Overmars and you didn’t see him travel. He was so quick it was like ‘where did he come from?'”
Keown could not resist a dig towards Neville, 49, as he continued before making his declaration over why he won’t appear on his old enemy’s podcast.
He continued: “He destroyed Gary Neville which was always a nice pleasure. Sorry Gary! I’m not on your podcast and I won’t be either, it’s too Man United driven sorry!
“He did them a favour when he left – Marc Overmars – because he was incredible. A great lad off the pitch as well.”
Red Nev’s Red guests
Neville is one of the mainstays on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast alongside the aforementioned Keane.
The podcast has been accused in the past of being too focused on Man Utd, with many of the guests who have appeared on the show being stars who played at Old Trafford.
Of the last 10 guest-driven podcasts featuring a former pro discussing their career, ex-United stars Rio Ferdinand, Andy Cole, Patrice Evra, Peter Schmeichel, and former manager David Moyes have all featured.
Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney was a frequent guest before he took over as manager of Championship side Plymouth.
However, other core members of the podcast are ex-Liverpool star Jamie Carragher and Arsenal icon Ian Wright.
Former Women’s Super League star Jill Scott is another ex-pro who appears often.
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Recent guests outside of the Man Utd gang include ex-stars Vieira, Glenn Hoddle and Les Ferdinand, while PGMOL chief Howard Webb, ex-Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez and Burnley co-owner JJ Watt.
Regardless, Keown and Neville starred together for the England national team on 14 occasions.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
