Ferguson hails ´fantastic´ Neville

Sir Alex Ferguson has praised the contribution of former Manchester United captain Gary Neville, who retired this week after 602 games with the club.

Neville is a product of the United youth system and announced his retirement with immediate effect on Wednesday after a glittering career that included a Champions League trophy, eight English Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups, the Intercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

The right-back won 85 caps for England between 1995 and 2007, playing in two World Cups and three European Championships.

Ferguson said Neville, whose struggles with injury this term had limited him to just three first-team appearances, was forced to announce his retirement when he was not included on United’s European squad list for the second half of the season.

“Yeah we’ve been discussing it for quite a few weeks now,” Ferguson said.

“He was going to do it on Sunday when the international week was on, but once we’d given our squad for the second half of the European season the media were alerted to that, so Gary thought it would be better to come out.”

Ferguson went on to describe Neville as an ‘incredible, fantastic man’ and said he would always be highly thought of at Old Trafford.

“He came to us as a 13-year-old boy, an avid United fan and remained that way all his life and made a great career out of a fantastic will and determination to be the best. He is an absolute legend at our club and will remain so for the rest of his life,” he said.