Former Manchester United captains Gary Neville and Roy Keane have insinuated that some of the teams they faced during their playing days were not ‘clean’.
Speaking on the podcast Overlap alongside Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane and Ian Wright, Neville said:
“There’s a couple that stick in my mind and I’m gonna say this very, because of legal reasons, I think there were a few teams that we played against that weren’t clean. We thought it at the time.”
Wright then asked Neville and his former teammate Roy Keane:
“What that they were too pumped up?”
Carragher chipped in:
“Must be the Italian teams.”
Neville continued:
“Honestly, I remember me and Giggsy (Ryan Giggs) in the mid 2000s.”
Wright asked:
“What was it?”
Neville continued:
“You know something, we were fit and I thought -“
This is when Keane took over saying:
“When we played certain teams, I would be walking off and I’d be absolutely shattered and again I remember it – I’d be looking at players I played against – a couple of Italian teams – and they looked like they’ve not even played a match.”
When asked why they couldn’t talk more directly about it, Neville explained that they cannot accuse people without proof. He continued that his group of Manchester United players were fit and compared to his idea of normal standards – “something was not right.” He concluded that he was not the only one to have this assumption about certain players from his playing days.
Here is a video of the conversation:
Gary Neville calls Bruno Fernandes the most talented player at Manchester United
The former Red Devils captain is an ardent follower of his team’s fortunes in current times. With the team failing to perform up to their old standards, Neville found some solace in naming his most talented player at the club.
He told Stick to Football podcast:
“I think about Bruno Fernandes (as the most talented player at Manchester United) and I watched him on Sunday and he is obviously the best player in terms of talent but he is everywhere.”
Neville added:
“It’s almost a bit 20 years ago, where you’d give your number 10 licence to play, that’s gone now – you have to fit within a pattern and combination. But that’s the bit where I think Bruno Fernandes must be being told to go everywhere because I don’t see Ten Hag or a coach saying get back into position.”
Neville made his debut for United in 1992 and retired in 2011.
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