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06th Oct 2016

Gary Neville’s assessment of his own form at the end of his career is searingly honest

Typically frank from G-Nev.

Rob Burnett

Gary Neville has garnered a reputation as a straight-talking football analyst who tells it like it is.

After a trophy-laden playing career with Manchester United he now spends his time picking apart the faults of current players in his role as Sky Sports’ pundit-in-chief.

But he has now confirmed that he is just as critical about himself as he is the poor defenders he routinely savages from behind his Sky Pad.

At a Legends of Football event for the charity Nordoff Robbins on Wednesday night, Neville appeared on stage with his Sky banter buddy Jamie Carragher.

Carra had a clip of Neville looking a tad (a lot) off the pace in his final game for United against West Brom on New Year’s Day 2011.

WEST BROMWICH, ENGLAND - JANUARY 01: Jerome Thomas of West Bromich Albion is challenged by Gary Neville of Manchester United during the Barclays Premier League match between West Bromich Albion and Manchester United at The Hawthorns on January 1, 2011 in West Bromwich, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

 

As frank as ever, Neville told the crowd: “I was shit at the end.”

The former England right-back has previously written about how he knew the end was nigh at half time during that game against the Baggies:

“The end came for me on New Year’s Day, 2011 – and it came on a toilet at The Hawthorns. It wasn’t the way I’d have chosen to finish, but I knew for certain that this was my last game,” he wrote in his autobiography.

“After 18 years at Manchester United, after 602 first-team appearances, I was in the middle of playing for my team for the last time.

“And I couldn’t wait for it to be over. In the dressing room, the manager was barking instructions about how we were going to improve on a dire first-half performance against West Brom.

“But I just wanted to get home, to disappear. In the sanctuary of the toilet, my mind was elsewhere.”

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