Originally Posted by
Phil Neville
He was the greatest captain I ever played for and the person that I learned most from in my career in terms of standards that you've got to keep. In terms of leading a team from the front, in terms of never giving up, never letting your team-mates down and standing up for your team-mates when they're in trouble.
I learned so much from him and I had a great relationship with him when I was at Manchester United. He was a large part of that young group coming through. He helped us so much, he sat with us, talked to us, joked with us.
You talk about Alex Ferguson not giving me a telling off; you got a telling off of Roy if you dropped your standards.
As a player, I don't think people realise how good a player he was. People say he was tough, he was aggressive. He was a brilliant passer of the ball, he was as brave as a lion in terms of getting on the ball. He used to always say if I was at left back or right back, 'If you're having trouble and I've got men round me, just give me the ball I'll get you out of trouble'.
And you can trust him with your life. He was brilliant in the last couple of years when I stepped into midfield and played alongside him. You just felt safe with him being in your team. I don't think I've seen anyone close to that kind of level of leadership that Roy gave that United team over a four or five year period.
Bookmarks