Alex Ferguson couldn't have won World Cup for England says Gary Neville

Pa
Friday 02 September 2011 10:24 BST
Comments
Neville has been highly outspoken about England of late
Neville has been highly outspoken about England of late

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Gary Neville believes not even Sir Alex Ferguson would have helped England win last year's World Cup.

Fabio Capello's side were humiliated by Germany, losing 4-1 in the second round in South Africa, with Neville claiming the squad lacked quality.

The former Manchester United star, however, feels old boss Ferguson would have struggled to push England any further.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Neville said: "Ferguson may have got more out of the squad.

"But the reality is, would we have beaten Spain in the last World Cup? No, because they were better than England."

With 85 appearances to his name, Neville is England's most-capped right-back, but has described his time playing for his country as "a wasted opportunity".

Only once during his career did England progress beyond the last eight - the Euro '96 semi-final when they again lost to Germany - and then Neville was not involved in that game.

"I loved playing for England, but we've fallen short and I've contributed to that over the last 10 years as much as anyone," he said.

"The analogy I use is, if a man takes a woman out 85 times and then she's not your girlfriend at the end of it, you've wasted a lot of time. You measure success by achieving things.

"We got to the quarter-finals, but that's falling short because we were not getting to European Championship and World Cup finals.

"Over the last 10 or 15 years, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Brazil have all been better than England.

"We need more players of higher quality who can keep the ball."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in