GARY THE SHOP STEWARD

Last updated : 13 September 2004 By editor

From Torygraph:

'The Manchester United right-back is a man who exhibits many qualities – consistency, determination, loyalty, a suspicion of all things emanating from Merseyside – but a sense of humour is not among them. In all probability he just got in a huff, and with the support of his best friend, David Beckham, persuaded all the lads that the best way to show solidarity with poor, beleaguered James was to keep schtum.

For a player who has been around a while, the Neville skin remains surprisingly thin. He is always quick to take umbrage, often on behalf of someone else. And no publication is safe from his eagle-eyed scouring for offence.

As he has become a senior player in both the England and United dressing rooms, so the Neville sense of grievance has hardened. Always prepared to stick up for his mates, he is now in a position to organise public displays of support for those he feels have been slighted. An admirable trait, and one which can do nothing but strengthen dressing room unity.

No doubt his mentor, Sir Alex Ferguson, would approve. Except that Neville generally manages to undermine his cause by picking the wrong methodology.

When Rio Ferdinand was banned for missing a drug test (the same offence that led to Kostas Kenteris becoming the pariah of the Athens Olympics) Neville proposed a strike of England players. How misguided was that, seeking to withdraw labour in support of someone who had clearly transgressed the laws of the game?

Never mind that Ferdinand wasn't being picked on – he was in the wrong – a far more effective protest would have been to refuse to accept the FA's match fee, or better still, take it, then donate the lot to a drugs education charity. Now that would have seized the moral high ground. But then the concept of giving his money away would never cross the footballer's radar.'