Originally posted by Bury Red:
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Whilst Phil will never be the greatest talent at Old Trafford, players with his experience (both club and country 260+ games for United and 37 in an England shirt), versatility, commitment and humility are hard to come by. He has been hampered somewhat by his versatility and although not as talented as Lee Sharpe has suffered from the same utility player tag seeing him play in unaccustomed positions at times and rarely starting succesive games in the same position which must surely affect your performances, he has never whinged about his situation though and deserves better than what many supposed fans throw at him.
Some of the dreamers on this forum like to believe that United can satisfy a squad of 22 world class superstars so that you can replace Rivaldo with Figo or Thuram with Roberto Carlos at a whim, but none of these "superstar" players would be happy to be subs or subbed so the image will always be just a dream. Hell we've even got players like Silvestre whinging about "when" and "where" he is played whilst players like Greening and Wilson spat the dummy over not being selected when they thought they should have been and the likes of Healy, Higginbotham etc left seeking a first team berth.
United manage a pretty remarkable feat in keeping squad players like Phil Neville, Quinton Fortune, John O Shea and Wes Brown (all internationals who would be guaranteed a first team spot in 85% of the top flight clubs) etc happy on limited outings whilst players such as Butt, Scholes, Forlan and even Solskjaer, Veron and Giggs are relatively happy (or at least un grumbling) to be royally dicked around in team selections.
Placing the blame for this seasons "failures" (third place in the league and semi finalists in the European cup "Oh woe is me, the sky is falling, doom, gloom etc") on any one player is nigh on impossible as at one time or other virtually every squad member has under achieved. Keane and Butt would be my only exceptions to this as I cannot recall them ever giving less than 110% this season, even Beckham and van Nistelrooy who have for the most part had excellent seasons had their poor or muted spells.
Phil Neville certainly doesn't stand out as having commited any major gaffes which should lead to his expulsion; Veron, Brown, Barthez, Gary Neville, Irwin, Silvestre, Scholes, Giggs all had their matches or moments this season which you could pick out and criticise but it is after all a team sport and our main flaw this term was a lack of team cohesion in the crucial games. The only player I would single out from this season for complete loss of form and the inability to show that he gives a flying feck or has it in him to change is Yorkie and their is a pretty universal consensus that he is on his way out of OT this summer.
Before you whine about the Neville fans crawling out of the woodwork to blindly defend players, please take a moment to enlighten us on the particular errors or sub par performances from this season which have singled out Phil in your eyes. Or is it just that you believe the tabloids where it is always open season on certain players at United. Phil's record in almost 10 years at OT have seen him rack up more games than Brian Kidd, Eric Cantona, Harry Gregg, McQueen, Strachan, McGrath, Nichol, Houston, Olsen, Jordan and countless other United legends. His 269 games puts him in the top 60 all time United players in terms of appearances out of the 1000+ players who have graced United, dismissing him with the argument that he simply isn't good enough won't do for me, he is a good squad player and I believe he will remain at OT as long as he wishes and Fergie is happy that he is giving 100%.</strong><hr></blockquote>
quality post BR.
Phil Neville has been at OT longer than some of our fans, and i suspect will still be there when same fans go and support Arse etc <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laugh Out Loud]" />
okay im joking really, but if youre gonna slag a player at least give some constructive criticism, instead of just saying "i think hes shite"
Phil Neville for example was one of the better players earlier this year when he got a consistent run in the right back berth. Even chipped in with a couple of cracking goals.
How youre going to buy that sort of commitment,versatility & quality for a backup player is beyond me (if he does go)
Nevilles must stay <img src="graemlins/keano.gif" border="0" alt="[Keano]" />
