Is Gary Neville an inspiring figure? His very brief stint as manager of Valencia would indicate that: no, he is not. But then, he was heading up a team featuring Shkodran Mustafi, and even coach Gaines would struggle to draw a competent performance out of him.
Neville has had a far bigger impact at the Manchester United academy, that's for sure, where his 14 pieces of life advice are handed out to aspiring players as they join the set-up. It's even hung up on the wall – that's how good and important it is.
Neville, it goes without saying, graduated from the famous Manchester United class of ‘92 and went on to enjoy a trophy-laden career with the club, so his advice is probably worth heeding.
The Times managed to get a copy of the transcript, so without further ado:
1. Choose who you follow.
2. Give 100 per cent all the time. You have never arrived at Manchester United so you must maintain a high standard all the time, every day.
3. Always remember why you began to play football - you loved it for its own sake and not as a means to get money, fame, girls, cars etc.
4. Ownership and responsibility - take care of your own affairs thus learning to do things for yourself, and not relying on others to do things for you: bank accounts, passports and so on. Make your own decisions.
5. Analyse and assess your own performance - be your own coach.
6. Have a strong work ethic - work harder than anyone else and you’ll overtake players with far more talent than you have.
7. Give the profession all that you have got, and you’ll have no regrets.
8. You have to have character and personality to play for Manchester United which you can develop over time.
9. Be a risk taker because it is a different kind of leadership.
10. Success and failure are two sides of the same coin, and you have to deal emotionally with both experiences. Remember that if you win or lose you can still have that Chinese on a Saturday night - keep things in perspective.
11. Learn more about yourself and what works for you.
12. Don’t leave anything to chance.
13. There are different routes to reach the top and very few players go ‘route one’ - like [Ryan] Giggs or [Wayne] Rooney. The challenge for you is to find the right pathway because we’re all different.
14. The ability to deal/cope with injuries is vital and should be approached with a strong mentality. See injury as an opportunity to develop body strength, and ‘reset’ your mind (refresh) for the various challenges ahead.
Nick Pope is the Site Director of Esquire, overseeing digital strategy for the brand.
