“When Gary Neville says it is an honour, it is an honour, if the players understand that, then you get more responsible behaviour as well,” said Lancaster. “Gary never turned down playing for his country, he is one of the most capped England players ever. He was frustrated, because he never felt he achieved with England what he wanted to achieve. He wants to help the players understand that, when you are playing for your country and you get it right, like England did at Euro 96, how powerful that is, to get the nation behind you. The ‘Three Lions on the shirt’ – we all felt that. Gary wants to help our team get that feeling. His message is good. He is not doing this for any other reason than he wants to try to help. His brother Phil also played for England, his sister Tracey played for England at netball. When I asked him, he said it was an honour to do it, as did everyone else.”

During Andre Villas-Boas Friday press conference, the Chelsea manager produced a laminated chart to show the press his club’s current points compared with other teams of years gone by.

“Chelsea, at the moment, have the same points as the champions last year and the same points as the champions three years ago,” he said. “And they have two points less than the champions four years ago.”

Hmmm. It will be a while before “He’s cracking up, he’s cracking up, Andre’s cracking up” does the rounds in the stands, but in just a few months in England, A V-B has had his moments, and his latest breakdown has been prompted by our very own Gary Neville…

September 20th 2011: Following Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford.

“I’m very, very unhappy with the poor performance from the referees which had a decisive role in the result, I don’t take it very lightly because it’s on those two first goals, and you expect the linesman to do his job. I have already gone further ahead with the situation by speaking to the correct people. I wouldn’t like to extend it publicly because I don’t think I should do it. But we are all very down when the referee has such an impact.”

October 23rd 2011: Following Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat to QPR.

“The ref was poor, very very poor. And it reflected in the result. I spoke to him at the end and I was very aggressive to him. I don’t care if he’s okay or not. A couple of decisions are right, yellow cards for sure, but I think he [Foy] lost it before and was card happy towards the team. I’m not happy with the difference of treatment. I don’t think the same treatment was applied. Apart from the fourth official, the other three were led by the emotions of the crowd and couldn’t deal with a game like this. Three of the games played by Chelsea were influenced by the referee, and this is not Premier League level. You have to trust human error, but it’s a big pattern for us. Things are not going our way. Conspiracy theories can lead to bans and lead to you calling us crybabies, and we’re not. But it keeps happening.”

December 3rd 2011: Following Nicolas Anelka and Alex being asked to train separately from the first team, reports suggest the fall out originated from Andre Villa-Boas laying in to several players about their recent performances. Anelka and Alex went on to submit transfer requests which were accepted.

December 7th 2011: Following Chelsea’s qualification to the next round in the Champions League.

“We see a Manchester United defender who says he doesn’t want to be in a team like Chelsea. There has been a continuous persecution of Chelsea, continuous aggression for one club. Manchester City are the only team in the country at the moment and I sincerely hope they qualify for the next round of the Champions League. But the attitude is ‘If they qualify, they qualify, if not they don’t’. That’s not the same as with us. We have become your target and tomorrow is difficult for you guys because now you’ll have to write about Chelsea.”

December 9th 2011: Continuation of his row with the press.

“A lot of things that were said, most of the things, were wrong. One day I will open the doors of training for you guys for a couple of days and you will see the players have the talent and ability and want to compete. That’s what we hold on to during extreme criticism. It’s fair for you guys to admit that the media darlings of the press are blue collar and not Chelsea. We were unfairly treated a couple of times, and fairly by yourselves in the beginning. It’s a love and hate relationship.”

December 9th 2011

A Chelsea spokesperson said in The Sun: “The manager has asked the players to look across and recognise him and his staff on the bench after a goal. He believes that by celebrating together it shows we are all in it together. That’s the players, the manager, the subs, the staff, the medical people – everyone working and celebrating together.”

December 10th 2011: In response to Neville claiming he wouldn’t want to be in the Chelsea dressing room following another defeat to Liverpool and that David Luiz played as though he was controlled by a child on the PlayStation.

“Comic criticism, and lack of in-depth criticism from top ex-professionals, when they take the route to the ridiculous, I think I have a word to say. Most people don’t even bother with what they say. But if they opt for the ridiculous, I have to defend myself and my players. I have to be aggressive, I think that is fair. Most of these people have a past related to a single club, their favourite club, which in the end brings a likely biased position in their opinion-making. When they take the option of the ridiculous, it is unfair. You cannot approach a top Brazil central defender saying he is commanded by a kid with a PlayStation. That is ridiculous. Be careful what you are saying. They are the most important team in the world. He is one of the best central defenders in the world. I know Chelsea have these people – maybe fewer – but you cannot be a top defender like he was, a top Manchester United defender like he has been, and take a ridiculous route. I would say this to his face with pleasure. You cannot speculate about Chelsea’s dressing room. What does he know about our dressing room? Does he even know how to get here [to Cobham]? Does he even know where Cobham is? You cannot speculate or invent, based on informants or speculation. I was watching television [when he said it]. I was gobsmacked.”

Still, I hope the crazy bastard can inspire his team to a win tonight.

Rooney will now miss at least one game in the tournament next summer but Neville reckons the media attention our striker has received since has distracted people from the real issues, such as the fact England just aren’t very good.

“My heart sunk as I watched Wayne Rooney being sent off,” said Neville. “But not for the same reason as most people watching the game, who will be talking about how he never learns and how he lets everyone down. The most disappointing thing about his red card is that it distracts from the major issue. With England, we’re always looking for an excuse; we’re always caught up in the minor rather than the major. The real issue is that the spine of the team is not good enough, as it stands, to take on Spain, Italy, France or Germany at Euro 2012. When I look at it coldly, a team that has John Terry, Gary Cahill, Scott Parker, Gareth Barry, Darren Bent and Rooney in its central positions is nowhere near good enough to take on the major nations such as Spain.”

Neville has also reflected on the hopes this country has pinned on his former Manchester United team mates, Rooney and David Beckham, ahead of International tournaments.

“Going into major tournaments we always put all our pressure and hopes on one man,” he said. “I’ve seen it before with Rooney in 2006 and 2010 or David Beckham in 2002. Even before them, it was Kevin Keegan or Bryan Robson in the Seventies and Eighties.”

Gary Neville has today talked about his role as one of the elders at the club, whilst also reflecting on who he looked up to when making his way through the ranks in the club.

“Some players will get their representatives to go to David Gill, the chief executive,” he said. “But most would go to the manager because, quite honestly, if he said you weren’t getting a new contract there’s no point taking it any further. I know the manager still looks over all the young players’ contracts because I’ve done quite a few with him over the last few years for those players. It’s an experienced player role and something I did for a few years. When I was younger it would be Bryan Robson doing it, or Brian McClair. A young player might be nervous going to see the manager, so they come to you for help. I did the same. I went to see Bryan Robson about my very first contract and Brian McClair helped me, Butty and Scholesy with our second contracts. I’m not sure it’s normal at all clubs but it’s normal here.”

“I’d had conversations with my wife and my mum and dad,” he said. “And I spoke to Scholesy and Ryan Giggs too, because we have shared most things over the last 20 years. But, professionally, the first person I spoke to was the manager. It’s how it works at United. If you have a problem, something you need to talk about, you go and see the manager. And I think I was in his office for about an hour and a half that day. He told me to go away and think about it, and sent me away on holiday. There’s never any problem with him in that respect. You can see him about anything. If you feel you have a crisis in your life he will make sense of it all. And he’ll look after you and make sure it is dealt with correctly. Sometimes in the media it is questioned, the way he protects his players. But they are his people. He looks after them.”

Unsurprisingly, our former skipper has confirmed that the only reason he would have ever left United is if the manager told him he wasn’t good enough anymore.

“No, I can’t have regrets,” he said. “I was at the best club in the world, the club I grew up supporting, twenty minutes from where I live. It doesn’t get any better than that. I would never have left, unless the manager told me my time was up. But he never said that to me. Even at the end, I went to see him. He was always a very loyal person. If you deliver for him and you perform, he will stand by you all the way. We were always very committed, we always did our best every single day. For me, I was at the best football club, and I would have never wanted to leave. Why would I? I was eating fillet steak, you don’t have a hamburger when there’s fillet steak there!”

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Deadline is Sunday. Vote for RoM in the Caught Offside blog awards.

When asked about our new player by The New Paper, our former captain had to double check it was all official before talking about him.

“Sorry, have we signed Ashley Young? Was that done yesterday?” he asked. He was told that Young was now a United player. “I knew that they were signing him, I just didn’t know if he had officially signed. I didn’t want to get myself in to trouble.”

Having impressed since joining Aston Villa from Watford, Neville reckons that playing for the champions will step Young’s game up another gear.

“He’s extremely talented and can play on both wings,” he said. “I’ve played with him for England. With coming to United he’ll be surrounded by great players and a great atmosphere and this will inspire him more. He certainly has the ability and talent to be a great player for United.”

Rumours have suggested that Young’s arrival will signal Nani’s departure, but Neville doesn’t believe that to be the case at all.

“Last year, when Antonio Valencia got injured, we really did struggle at times in the wing positions,” he said. “In a squad game, Ashley Young, Ji-Sung Park and Nani can play left and right, so we now have great options in the wing positions. I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination it’s the end of Nani. Last year he had his best year for Manchester United and he won the Players’ Player of the Year. So I don’t think this is the end of Nani. People have been saying for twenty years, if we sign a player in one position, they think it’s the end of another player’s, but the way the game goes now, you need two players for each position.”

Speaking with The New Paper from Singapore, our former captain has hailed the performances of Jones in the league for Blackburn, particularly against us on the day we won the 19th title last season.

“I think this lad is going to be a star,” he said. “I think he’s someone who could be a captain of Manchester United in the future. He’s really solid, someone who I think can be a huge player for Manchester United in the next ten years. I think there’s a lot of potential in him. The performances that he’s put in over the past two years in the Premier League, particularly against us, have been outstanding. I think he’s a great signing for us and I think you’ll hear a lot more about him in the next five years.”

Gary Neville was invited to throw the first pitch in the Chicago White Sox versus Oakland Athletics match yesterday.

Wearing a number 2 jersey with his surname on the back, he showed that baseball probably isn’t the sport for him.

Beckham, who left the club for Real Madrid in 2003, can’t wait to wear our shirt again.

“Putting a United shirt on again never gets old,” said Beckham. “I get goose bumps every time I think about stepping out at Old Trafford again, as does walking out on the pitch. To be able to do that for Gary and his family means it is going to be an emotional night. I played with him for so many years. We were room-mates, he was best man at my wedding and he is one of my best friends. I am looking forward to seeing him play. After a few months of not playing and training, that will be interesting!”

Beckham believes after Neville’s commitment and hard work, he is deserving of a night dedicated to him.

“Gary is still so dedicated,” said Beckham. “It is the reason why he has achieved so much in his career and why United fans love him. He is such a talent and hard worker. He really deserves this night.”

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There are still a few tickets available. Buy them from the official site for £25.