Wenger hails Gaz..

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/03022011/63/...ng-neville.html

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has no hesitation in declaring Gary Neville to be the best English right-back of the Premier League era.

Neville announced his retirement on Wednesday, ending a stellar career that has brought him eight Premier League titles and a Champions League triumph, plus 85 England caps.

"Best English right-back in the Premier League? Certainly," Wenger said. "If you look at his record, he has won absolutely everything and with the number of games he has played, he is without a doubt the best."

Although Neville's talent is in danger of being underplayed, Wenger concurs with the widespread view that the Bury-born star achieved the levels he did through sheer force of will and persistence.

"I respect what he has done a lot because he was certainly not one of the most talented players in the league," he said. "But what he has achieved is consistency.

"His record is down to intelligence and motivation - he is an example to players who are maybe less gifted than the Ryan Giggses or the David Beckhams.

"He still made a fantastic career because he is intelligent and highly motivated. He deserves great credit."
Surprising... 

An article so stupid I dunno what to say. Just thought I'd share this, since it was so ridiculous that it was amusing in a way. Shows how idiotic some people can be, the writer obviously is biased and has no idea what he's really spouting. What do you guys think of the 'points' he brought up?

You have to admit, the guy has valid 'points' ya know..

i think he was being sarcastic. i see the inverted commas

that article solely focuses on the 19th title that we might get. And if we do, we will become overconfident. Wth i kenot brain this.

i mean at mamak la. sit alone, makan roti, minum milo panas, goal ! jump alone at own table. sad man

What valid points are those? Mind telling us?

The only position SAF maybe haven't truly brought in a replacement is in the GK department although maybe Lindegaard will be that man. Whatever that is, we're gonna fix that this summer.

Defence: Rafael-Smalling-Evans-Fabio
and it's not like the others are on the wrong side of 30.

Midfield: Valencia-Fletcher-Anderson-Nani are about to enter their prime.
suplement by Gibson, Cleverley, Park. Pogba and Morrison would be thereabouts in a few seasons.

As Giggs, Scholes and VDS shown, these days players last a lot longer than in the past. So Carrick will be around for another 2-3 seasons at least at the top. He makes it sound like Evra, Carrick, Rio, Vida are all gonna die when they reach 30. He must have wrote with excitement looking at the ages of the players above when he wrote them without actually thinking clearly just so he could make a point that SAF/ManUtd are doing do die.

Striker: Rooney, Berbatov, Hernandez, Owen, Macheda, Welbeck. Need I say more?

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Added on February 3, 2011, 11:57 pmTalking about Gary being less talented than Phil.. anyone else feel the same about Rafael and Fabio? Fabio was the one people talk about before they join us. Fabio, Brazil captain, score goals and whatnot. But Rafael got the breakthrough first and never look back since.

Gary Neville, who ended his playing career on Thursday, is to remain with Manchester United in an informal role until the summer.

The 35-year-old had been linked with a pundit job at broadcaster Sky Sports or a full-time position at Old Trafford.

But Neville says he will work with the club to achieve his coaching badges before deciding his long-term future.

"I want to have 12 months to gather my thoughts. I don't want to rush into another relationship quickly," he said.

Although Neville is seeking to complete his coaching qualifications, he admits that he is unsure if he will pursue a regular position.

"At this moment in time my mindset isn't to go into coaching or management full-time," he added.

"I have been working for a football club every day for 20 years. I definitely want to try and continue my relationship with this club, even if it is just as a fan.

"I want to ease off a little bit and just relax. I need to chill out."

The right-back made his debut for the club in September 1992 in a Uefa Cup tie against Torpedo Moscow and played for the 602nd and final time for the club in the 2-1 win over West Brom on New Year's Day.

Neville is likely to be granted a testimonial at the end of the season in recognition of his part in the most successful period in the club's history.

He won the the Champions League, eight Premier League trophies, three FA Cups and two League Cups in his time at United.

Gary Neville sat down for an exclusive interview with MUTV to talk about his decision to retire, and to look back on some of his best moments in his career. In the first of a three-part serialisation of that interview, Gary explains how he came to make his decision...

You caught a lot of people by surprise, can you take us through the chain of events that led to your announcement?
It wasn’t just on the day; something like that doesn’t come as immediately as that. It’s been a combination of events over the last few months and I’ve known for the last few weeks having spoken to the manager. You don’t go and do something like that so quickly. I went away for a week and still came to the same conclusion: it just felt like the right thing to do and that my time was up. When your time’s up, your time’s up.

You could have played until the end of the season. Why stop mid-season?
Sometimes you just go off gut instinct, it’s the type of person I am. I felt it was right. Having spoken with the manager, I’ll continue to go in until the end of the season but not in the capacity that I have been doing in the last 19 or 20 years. I’ll maybe work with some of the young players, but that will be until the end of the season. I played my last game against West Brom and came to the conclusion pretty quickly after that that I didn’t feel right and my time was up. I didn’t want to delay it for four months. In my mind, it just wouldn’t have felt right for me. I felt that, for the manager and the club and everything they have done for me, they should know that as well. They accepted it and supported me in my decision.

So you came to the decision after the game against West Brom on New Year's Day?
It wasn’t after that game, it was during that game! [Laughs] No, it was probably a month or so before that. You don’t just give up after one bad game – I’ve had enough of those over the last 20 years to know that it can happen! The way I felt, at the start of the season picking up those little injuries, your mentality at this club is just to come back and go again. But you get a feeling in your mind that you can’t go again. That time had come for me. There was also the fact of being of use to the team and the squad. In the last two seasons I think I played 25 or 30 games in each season. There were games, or periods of games, where I felt I was contributing to the squad. Once you’ve lost that, you get to know in your own mind that it’s not quite right. You don’t want to be a passenger.

You’d perhaps have preferred to go out at the end of the season lifting a trophy; is it a low-key way to go out?
I don’t think it’s a low-key way to go; you can write scripts, but the reality is that life doesn’t happen like that. In the perfect world, of course, I’d have walked off having lifted the championship at the end of the season. But that’s not reality. That’s not real life. Things happen in life at moments in which you wish they wouldn’t. But I can’t look back and believe that there is a bad way to go. After everything that’s happened, it is what it is.

Who did you consult when you came to your decision?
I didn’t consult anybody. I made the decision myself. I spoke to my mum and dad, my wife, but the decision was made. They weren’t going to try and talk me out of it. They know me well and they know my mindset and the way I have been for 20 years at this club. When that fire stops burning a little bit you know something’s not quite right. The injuries you get deflate you, so they get to know your mindset. It wasn’t a case of consulting them, it was more just talking to people and telling them basically. Knowing me, they accept it; they might be disappointed for me, it’s the sort of thing you don’t want to come to an end for your son or your husband. But that’s life.

What did the boss have to say?
He was fine. Initially he said to go and have a think about it, it’s not the sort of decision you make lightly. He’s been really supportive and brilliant towards me. It just comes. Better players than me have left, greater players than me, so it’s not the end of the world. It’s a big thing for me, obviously, but the most important thing is that the team is doing well. We’re five points clear at the top of the table and hopefully we go on to win the title.

Did you talk to your team-mates?
I spoke to Paul [Scholes] and Ryan [Giggs]. They probably knew a few weeks ago. We’ve been playing football for 25 years together and I’ve known Scholesy since I was 12 and Giggsy since I was 14. So I spoke to them. They’ve lived everything with me. They’re in completely different moments, though; they are absolutely incredible football players and still outstanding performers, still two of the best players in the Premier League let alone at United. I hope I can continue to watch them for the next few years.

You’ve been going into United every day for over 20 years, training and playing. How do you suddenly cope with not doing that? It’s a total change of lifestyle…
It is, but it’s not come suddenly for me. With what’s happened in the last few years, you have an acceptance that your career is coming to an end. It could have happened at the end of last season. The club only contacted me a few weeks before the end of the season and I was quite relaxed about that. I did genuinely feel I was playing my last two or three months at the club. I was prepared for it then. The club phoned me up and David [Gill] and the manager asked me to have another year. You can’t say no. I thought, 'you’re Gary Neville and you play for Manchester United, that’s what you do'. I’ve supported the club all my life and anybody in my shoes would have said no. In the off-season, I did four weeks training to prepare for another tough season, and then I pulled my calf on the first day of pre-season and was out for four weeks. I got back to what I believe to be reasonable shape in training fitness but just without the games. Then my ankle flared up in October, the injury I’d done four years ago. My ankle had been really good and hadn’t given me much trouble. But that’s when you say, ‘enough’s enough’. You get to that point.

if man utd happen to win the premiership/fa cup/champions league, will gary neville be eligible to receive the winner's medal?

if man utd happen to win the premiership/fa cup/champions league, will gary neville be eligible to receive the winner's medal?

not enuf appearances i think

Ryan Giggs believes his former Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville will make a perfect first-team coach - but is NOT cut out for management.

Wednesday night after a distinguished 19-year career in which he made 602 appearances for United and won 85 England caps.

The 35-year-old has been taking his FA badges, along with United contemporaries Giggs and Paul Scholes, and is set to be offered a coaching role at United by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Giggs, 37, who continues to defy the ageing process by playing at a formidable level almost 20 years on from his United debut, said Neville would be perfect in the No.2 role at Old Trafford.

"I'm not sure about Gary," said Giggs. "He'd be a brilliant assistant manager because he is so focused and organised. He could do the day-to-day coaching.

"He gets his point across well on the training pitch. I wouldn't be great at that. I'm better face-to-face, so probably better at management.

"I'm not sure about David Beckham [becoming a manager], but Scholesy will get involved, though probably not as a manager, and Phil [Neville] will definitely be a manager.

"I hope I can be a good manager. I like helping players and improving them, but the life expectancy of a manager is just 18 months, so you don't get long."

Gary Neville admitted he accepted some time ago that his 20-year United career was over and said he did not want to be a "passenger" at the club.

"I've known for the last few weeks," he said. "I've been speaking to the manager, went away for a week and came to the same conclusion that it was the right thing to do.

"The mentality at this club is always to come back, to go again, go again. Sometimes you get a feeling in your mind that you can't go again and that time had come for me.

"You know your own mind and you don't want to be a passenger. When that fire stops burning, you know something's not quite right.

"Sometimes you have to go with your gut instinct. That's the type of person I am and I felt the time was right.

"Having spoken with the manager, I'll continue to go in until the end of the season, but not in the same capacity I have been doing for the last 19 years.

"I'll be working with some of the younger players and doing some coaching, but that will only be until the end of the season.

"At this moment in time, my mindset is not to go into coaching or management full-time. I want 12 months to gather [myself] and not to rush into a new relationship.

"I need to relax. I'm not a very relaxed person, but I need to chill out after 20 years coming in and doing the same thing."

With his contemporaries Giggs and Scholes continuing to excel at United, the 35-year-old defender insisted it was not the end of an era at Old Trafford.

"I don't know if it's an end of an era feeling, because there's a new layer below us now," said Neville.

"When Roy Keane left five years ago, and Denis Irwin before that, it was seen as the end of an era. But me, Giggsy and Scholes stepped up to that next layer, with Edwin van der Sar obviously.

"But now, below us, there's Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, John O'Shea and Wayne Rooney, and they'll step up. The conveyor belt doesn't have a gap in it.

"The manager creates a squad with layers and tiers of experience, from young lads of 17 who are in the squad, right through to experienced players aged 37 or 38.

"And when those ones go off, there are people who step up to the plate and take that responsibility and experience.

"You think back to Roy going a few years back and you wondered how the club would ever replace that character and that player.

"But it happens in different ways. It will happen again when Giggsy and Scholes leave, although I don't know how you replace those two, or the manager obviously, because they're all a bit special."

"He gets his point across well on the training pitch. I wouldn't be great at that. I'm better face-to-face, so probably better at management.

Manchester United defender Chris Smalling is happy at how he has settled into life at Old Trafford.

The 21-year-old was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson in a surprising £10million transfer from Fulham one year ago, and the player moved to the North-West last summer.

Smalling had made just 19 appearances for the Cottagers after they plucked him from non-league club Maidstone in 2008, but the Scot saw enough from the tall centre-back to persuade him to pay such a substantial amount.

The stopper has shown maturity in his role and managed to gain a place in England's under-21 squad, as well as overtaking Jonny Evans in the pecking order at United as deputy to first-choice pair Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.

Surprised

"A lot of the young lads have been here for a long time," he said.

"I only came here in the summer and I wasn't at Fulham for too long, so I have surprised myself how settled I have become.

"Manchester is quite different to London. It is a bit more chilled out up here and I only live five minutes from the training ground, so everything is nice and easy.

"A lot of my family come up quite often too, so on a personal level I feel really at ease.

"And the more games I play in, the more I feel like I belong here. I really feel good at the moment."

Smalling has appeared 16 times for the club so far this season, including three consecutive games in January, two of which saw him partner Vidic, who has been in outstanding form for the Red Devils this term.

"Vidic has had the biggest impact this season on us," said Smalling.

"That is why we have been so solid at the back so to have the chance to play with him is a massive boost for me.

Chance

"He is one of the world's best central defenders so to get the chance to learn my trade next to him is invaluable.

"He is always talking to me, which makes my job a lot easier when I step into the team.

"His partnership with Rio Ferdinand is something I admired from afar so that chance to train with them each day and interact with them allows me to pick up bits and pieces of information, which is a real bonus."

"It is a big step for me. I am still improving but am trying to learn from all those experiences and kick on."

But Manchester United defender Patrice Evra was not selected by national team boss Laurent Blanc in his 23-man squad for the game on February 9.