Gary Neville is walking back controversial comments he made more than a decade ago.
The retired footballer made a stir in 2011 when he declared his England career "a waste of time." The comments came in his book, "Red: My Autobiography," in which the former Manchester United player looked back at his near 20-year career.
In the book, Neville spoke of the pressure he felt during his 85 caps for the Three Lions. "It should be fantastic, the best moments of your life," he wrote. "But there is no doubt that too many players spend too much time fearing the consequence of failure when they pull on an England shirt."
Unsurprisingly, the comments made a stir when the book was published, and now the eight-time Premier League champion has issued a mea culpa.
Speaking to the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by SkyBet, Neville clarified his sentiments by stating "it might’ve been a bit of arrogance" on his part as he was so used to winning with United but ultimately failed to help England win a trophy.
“I probably let myself down in my book where I called it [playing for England] a waste of time," Neville said. "At Manchester United, everything was about winning. If you didn’t win, you were dead – that was the mentality of the club with the boss and everyone in the changing room.
“[For England] You don’t win something, you’ve been called the Golden Generation, and then go and let people down in tournament after tournament. I’ve been in five tournaments as a player, three Euros and two World Cups. We just let people down, we let the country down, every time we got knocked out of a tournament – except for Euro 96 where it was half accepted – every other was a let-down.
“It was almost like you feel like it was a waste of time – we’ve not achieved and done what we said we were going to do. That’s probably wrong in some ways, I actually loved playing for England.”
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