I’ve never met Gary Neville. But I’ve never liked him. Until now. His football punditry is excellent, insightful, and he displays a sense of humour we never knew he had. And it’s all present in his autobiography RED. OK, it was co-written with footie journalist Matt Dickinson, but it still carries Neville’s voice. Football auto biographies are very variable and I read a lot of them. I try to steer clear of ghosted books, but this one is better than most.
Neville revels (see what I did there?) in the fact that most non Man U fans can’t stand him. But they should still read this book, as it is a fairly honest and insightful account of twenty years of Manchester United dominating British football. Of particular interest is his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson. he clearly idolises the man, but they certainly had their differences.
He is especially good at analysing our various international failures. He thinks both Hoddle and Keegan got the job too early. He thought a lot of Sven but it’s clear that he felt he was too weak in his management style.
Anyway, this is a good book, not a great book. Eminently enjoyable sitting on the toilet.
