If you have followed English football for a few years, especially Manchester United, you would know that there used to be a sibling rivalry of sorts.  Phil and Gary Neville both played for a good many years on the best team England had to offer.

 

Now I am not saying that either of these players are world class, actually I am asking you to choose who is better. I will share my feelings on them both, but ultimately you can make the call.

 

By the way, the reason this is actually a story, is because currently Gary is the Captain of Man. U while his younger brother Phil, who was sold before last season, is now Everton Football Club’s Captain. So, this year they will have to duel it out, younger vs. older to see who is the best leader in the family.

 

The thought is almost unheard of, to have two relatives, brothers no less, captains of opposing teams at this high of a level. Did I mention that they both are currently playing the same position at right back?

 

Here is the breakdown. Phil (the younger) through observation is more skillful, having the ability to play center midfield as well as on the left side, making him a great utility player to have.

 

Gary (the older) is a stalwart at right back and is tried and true in that position. You can depend on him to hold down his piece of the field and make moves forward to put in bent crosses.

 

I have already stated that neither of these players are world class, even though both have spent a long time with the English National Team. The Neville’s fail to posses any one talent that makes you take a second look, maybe except for the size of Gary’s head but far from that abnormality, it is the experience that they have gathered through the years that have gotten them the captaincies that they both hold.

 

To be honest, even with their long standing membership of playing at the highest level, I could still dismiss both of them as terrible, except that in a resent interview with Phil, when asked, “Who is the best player you have ever played against?” Instead of him naming off some current premiership hero or some past washed up hard man, he spoke the name Ruud Gullit as his biggest nightmare.

 

Wow, with that response, Phil has brought himself a touch of class, that players like Van Persie or Christiano Ronaldo fail to display yet.

 

Let me know who you think is better and why. Drop me a line at Mongoose@savagesoccer.com

 

Meditations from the Mongoose.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 7th, 2006 at 4:07 am and is filed under Soccer World, England. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.