The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 334 Hot Dream

Gary Neville loved the Red Devils all his life and was willing to give everything for the team. He overcame heavy prejudice and waited for a rare opportunity to perform. He had a strong sense of crisis and was always like a howling wolfdog on the field, burning his little universe to compete and fight, wishing to pour out all his strength and passion.

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Ferguson was very depressed because the Red Devils had nothing in the season. He decided to visit the youth training base more often to adjust his mood.

Yes, only when he sees those young people sweating and releasing their passion freely, will Ferguson involuntarily feel relaxed.

The young players of the Red Devils have really started to grow up. The young guys who won the 1992 England Youth FA Cup began to shine like gems. Their growth speed and dazzling brilliance surprised Ferguson and his youth training team.

The Red Devils' youth players have even made the entire English football community look forward to them. Unlike many giants who are cautious in promoting and using youth players, Ferguson is quite bold. He carried forward Busby's tradition and decisively gave many young people opportunities. From Maiorana to Lee Sharpe, from Giggs to Savage, even some young players whose technical ability is really not up to par, Ferguson let them experience it in official matches.

Among these inconspicuous youngsters was Gary Neville, who later became a regular starter. The youth players who appeared on the field with Giggs showed enough vigor and vitality to the Red Devils fans, which also made Ferguson very excited.

The young players of the Red Devils are very competitive and often work harder than the old players. They also make the Red Devils look more passionate and aggressive. They may not be able to execute the team's tactics well, and sometimes make mistakes due to nervousness or other psychological reasons, but their fighting spirit and passion for the game are perfect.

They have huge potential. Although they lack experience and look very green on the field, their bravery and enthusiasm, their impulse and passion, the high technical and tactical level they demonstrate, and their extraordinary personal abilities really make many people feel their eyes light up.

Among these Red Devils youth team players, there is one who is not talkative but performs the most bravely in the game. He is Gary Neville.

Gary Neville was born on February 1975, 2 in Burleigh, Greater Manchester. He is a native of Manchester. Gary has been a Manchester United fan since he was a child. When he was a toddler, he was taken to watch the Manchester United games by his family. He became a Manchester United ball boy at the age of 18. In his words, "I will only love one team in my life, that is the Manchester United!" Gary was born into a sports family. At the age of 6, he joined the Manchester United Community Football Program and has been growing up in the Manchester United system. In 11, at the age of 1991, Gary became a member of the Manchester United youth team. This youth team includes the older Giggs, Beckham of the same age, Butt, Scholes, Savage, Gillespie... "They are really amazing. In comparison, I have nothing. At that time, I even had a serious inferiority complex." Gary later recalled his life in the Manchester United during this period and was still very emotional.

Gary decided to cut off contact with other friends and started training very hard and even a little self-torturing. Gary Neville found that his teammates were too talented. Giggs was a genius praised by the coach, Scholes was a super technical expert, and even Beckham, who joined on the same day, was better than him. Compared with Butt, Gillespie, Savage, etc., he was completely at a disadvantage. This was extremely cruel for Gary, and he had no choice but to practice hard.

Gary started his life as a Red Devils player without any hindrance, and took the initiative to start endless hard training and tempering. He continued to burn with passion, burning this hot dream, and continued to grow, breaking through countless obstacles of blood, sweat, injury and tears.

Gary played as a center back in the youth team. His height was his Achilles' heel. "How can you possibly play as a center back?" Even Gary's sister made fun of him. "Don't English players have to be over 190cm tall to play as center back?"

"Don't worry about it!" Gary said viciously, "Who said I can't grow to 190cm in the future!"

Fate played a huge joke on Gary. He never grew to 190cm tall until he retired.

"If Gary was five inches taller, he would definitely be the best central defender in England." This sentence was really said by Ferguson.

Gary was appointed captain of the youth team, and this appointment, announced by Harrison himself, won everyone's approval. The geniuses in Carrington were young and frivolous, and their eyes were high, but for Gary who was training crazily, and who kept talking about the Red Devils at this moment and wanted to die for the team twice, everyone praised and supported him. Indeed, those who were smarter than him were not as hardworking as him, those who were more hardworking than him were not as passionate as him, those who were more passionate than him were not as persistent as him, and those who were more persistent than him were not as tough as him. Gary's short body always contained infinite power, and he always had something that could defeat you.

Gary impressed everyone the most with his diligence. Since Ferguson took over the Red Devils, Gary has been the one who has spent the most extra training time and is the most fearless of hardship and fatigue in the team. This inconspicuous young man is also the most serious, the most active, and the most desperate on the training ground. The Cliff base is located in a remote area, and the cliff camp is extremely cold in winter, but Gary gets up before dawn every day, and when the team is sleeping soundly, he runs on the training ground in the biting cold wind.

Gary said, "If you don't have extraordinary talent, you must work hard and keep up tenaciously. After joining the Red Devils, I began to treat myself cruelly. I always remember what my father said: Never look back, life is an endless sprint, I just want to rush forward to win more."

Gary worked hard day and night and finally caught Ferguson's attention. In the 1992-93 season, Gary got a chance to play for the Red Devils' first team. Gary came on as a substitute for Parker in the UEFA Cup match against Torpedo Moscow. This was Gary's debut for the Red Devils. Gary played well in the short time of the match. Although he was nervous, his movement and positioning on the field were in line with the rules, and he was also very active in defensive confrontation.

Gary Neville recalled, "I was a central defender when I was in the Red Devils' youth training team, and I played in this position when the youth team won the championship. At that time, the intensity of the youth team's games was not too abnormal, and I could easily cope with it. But after I got to the first team, I found that everything changed in front of Bruce and Pallister. I was a complete scum. They set the standard for excellent central defenders, and I failed in any aspect, regardless of my size, weight, height, strength, turning, speed... Boss said that I was only a few inches away from becoming a central defender, but it was just a polite remark. I was ashamed of myself in front of any standard and could not meet the requirements of the Red Devils at all."

It was precisely because of Gary's limited conditions that Ferguson finally asked him to play as a right back.

The decision to change to right back in the first team was not made by Ferguson on the spur of the moment, but was made after careful consideration by him and the coaching staff. However, this change was still very short-lived, and Gary had a very difficult start and grew very slowly. After this game, Gary fell silent again and never got a chance to play again. He knew that he still needed to work harder to reach the standards set by Ferguson, and it was not enough to just not make mistakes. In the 93-94 season, Gary, who had gone through hard training again, finally got a chance to play in the league, and also played in the Champions League against Galatasaray. Gary's performance became more courageous, and his performance went from good to very good, which was praised by Ferguson.

Gary quickly adapted to the right-back position and quickly developed his rare ability to cross from the wing and throw the ball with great power. This season, the Red Devils' full-backs suffered many disasters. The main player Parker gradually faded out. David May and Keane both played as right-backs. Gary Neville's opportunity came. He shared most of the starting league games with May, and played almost all the League Cup and FA Cup games, accumulating more game experience.

Gary Neville played in many FA Cup games and was suspended for accumulating yellow cards. He was unwilling to miss the game and chose to continue to appeal. The FA finally allowed him to play on the condition that he was fined. Gary later recalled, "I paid a fine of 1000 pounds for the honor of playing at Wembley, but I didn't win the championship in the end. This led to my first financial crisis. My first professional contract had a weekly salary of only 210 pounds."

Gary didn't care about his weekly salary for a long time. He just wanted the most crucial opportunity to play. Gary Neville always thought that he was not special, just an ordinary professional player. He knew that without Ferguson's cultivation, he would not have the opportunity to realize his dream of playing for the Red Devils. Not only Gary, but his friends trained hard and actively participated in team competitions just to get precious opportunities to play. The young Red Devils were thinking about when they could play and not messing up on the court.

Gary made rapid progress, but in the eyes of football critics, this young man was not good enough to play for a top club. They thought that Gary had average physical fitness, no outstanding skills, and even less speed. But Ferguson didn't see it that way. He thought Gary had excellent talent and strength, and there was no problem playing as a right back for the Red Devils, but he was not suitable to play as a center back. He joked: "Gary has all the talents to be the best center back, but it's a pity that his father gave birth to him a few inches shorter!"

Ferguson saw the opportunity to change Gary to right back, and he suddenly felt enlightened in this position. He accumulated 16 league starts and 2 substitute appearances this season, and Old Trafford was full of praise for this little guy. They recognized the performance of this newcomer, who brought out his abundant physical strength, brave flying tackles, desperate attitude, and excellent long pass advantages. Indeed, accompanied by the cheers of the fans, every time Gary played in a game, it was a bit like a doomsday run, full of a sense of crisis. Gary's defense was always desperate, using a lot of flying tackles, and he was willing to get a yellow card, and even a red card.

When Gary became a regular starter, he was determined to teach his seniors a lesson. He chased everyone like a mad dog and made flying tackles during the team games. His positive attitude was praised by Keane, Cantona and Bruce.

Gary said, "Yes, you have to be this crazy, this reckless, and this brave and fearless to be recognized by these seniors. If you don't tackle a few of them, don't pat your butt and stand up to continue the game after being tackled by them, and don't keep playing this dangerous game with them, you will never be able to enter their circle."

Gary Neville grew up step by step, and Ferguson's words kept ringing in Gary's ears. He really knew what it meant to play in this club and how fierce the competition was. Gary said: "People often say that ordinary people have no place in the Red Devils and can't expect to survive for long. I took this sentence as a golden rule. Maybe the urgent desire made me dizzy, but no one blamed me for being reckless and aggressive."

Like Gary Neville, many of the Red Devils youth team got professional contracts and opportunities to play. These guys who were deeply loved by Ferguson did not disappoint. The Red Devils' youth training players emerged like "a dense school of fish". The large number of people, the number of appearances, and the eye-catching performances shocked the football media.

The Red Devils use young players on such a large scale, of course, also to save money. "Ferguson's Red Devils can save a lot of money", the wages of all the youth players may not even be a fraction of the wages of famous superstars. But the media also have to admit that Ferguson's children are rising too fast.