Gary and Phil Neville have gone down different paths since hanging up their boots, but the bond between the brothers was plain to see when the younger sibling left Manchester United in 2005.
Both Gary and Phil came through the ranks at United, breaking into the first team after graduating from an academy which also produced the likes of Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Paul Scholes. However, while Gary became a key member of Sir Alex Ferguson's squad, Phil was more of a squad player valued for his versatility.
By the time 2005 rolled around, the younger of the pair decided it was time to try his luck away from Old Trafford, joining David Moyes at Everton. Reflecting on the episode in 2020, Gary admitted tears were shed when Sir Alex Ferguson sat down with the pair after that big decision.
“Phil rang me up one Sunday and said ‘I’ve made a decision, I want to leave,’" Gary told Sky Sports' Off Script Podcast in 2020. "I said it’s a big call, you’re playing a lot of games at United, you're winning trophies but he wanted to leave.
"We actually went around Sir Alex’s house that night and went to see him," the 48-year-old continued. "I remember there being a few tears, it’s even emotional now because I’d been at United since the age of 11 and Phil had been there since he was 13, going to see Sir Alex to say that he wants to leave, that Phil wanted to go and play football every single week."
Phil left United after more than 250 Premier League appearances, and more than 350 in all competitions. However, while he won a number of trophies, he wasn't a regular and remained on the bench as the Red Devils won the 1999 Champions League and 2004 FA Cup finals.
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Phil spent a fruitful eight years at Everton before hanging up his boots in 2013. He would later be reunited with his older brother at Valencia, with Gary taking over as manager while his sibling sat on the coaching staff.
Since then, though, the pair have moved in different directions. Gary left management after that stint in Spain, returning to the punditry studio, whereas Phil has held managerial posts with the England women's team and then with Major League Soccer side Inter Miami.
Curiously, the conversation around Phil's exit wasn't the only time Gary was involved in discussions around a team-mate's United future. Another former full-back, academy graduate Danny Simpson, revealed in 2023 that his fellow defender attempted to help convince Ferguson to hand him a new deal.
"He actually negotiated my contract with Sir Alex," Simpson, who later won the Premier League with Leicester, told the Undr The Cosh podcast. "Sir Alex didn’t like agents, he was scared of getting people involved.
"Gary Neville was helping me and I was learning from him. I spoke to him asking for advice and Neville offered to help. I got him to go in with me, so it was me Gary and Sir Alex chatting about my contract! I was like, 'Is this happening?'
"Neville went in and said ‘Listen, he’s taking over from me. You’ve got to give him more than that [Ferguson's initial contract offer].' He got it bumped up. But I do look back now and I think maybe they were both in on it."
Some 18 years on from his exit, though, Phil Neville is now the man responsible for squad-building in Miami. He led the MLS side to last season's playoffs, where they lost at the first hurdle against New York City FC, and added former MLS top scorer Josef Martinez to the club's ranks ahead of the 2023 campaign.
The Floridian side have some work to do to get themselves in playoff contention this time around, with a return of 12 points from their opening 10 games. The top nine teams in the Eastern Conference will make it into the post-season, and Inter Miami currently sit 10th.
There has been plenty of turnaround in the squad, with the situation evoking the advice Gary received from Ferguson during his own managerial adventure. "I should have made big decisions on players that weren't committed to the club at that point," he would later recall.
"I remember speaking to Sir Alex Ferguson quite early on and his advice was: 'Just get rid of them, son. Protect yourself. Only have people in the dressing room that are facing the same direction as you.'"
