Gary and Phil Neville went from team-mates to rivals when the younger brother moved to Everton from Manchester United, and there was no love lost when they reunited in the tunnel pre-match
Often, our brothers and sisters act as our harshest critics.
When mum and dad were patting you on the back for getting 9/10 in that spelling test, your sibling would be there to remind you that they got full marks.
This is certainly true for football’s Neville brothers, who, despite both having built impressive careers as players for club and country, have in the past been keen to undermine each other when possible. Fans may remember their awkward encounter during Gary’s early Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football tenure, dubbed the ‘hello Phillip’ incident.
However, the former Manchester United team-mates made things difficult for each other during their playing careers too, and not just on the pitch. Before a clash between Gary’s United and Phil’s Everton in 2010, the pair lined up in the Goodison Park tunnel ready to lead their team-mates out as captains.
In a scene of palpable awkwardness, the pair where filmed standing in absolute silence, not even acknowledging each other. However, Phil later claimed that it was his brother Gary that kicked off the silent treatment, even adding that he only did it for the TV cameras.
Phil recalled saying hello to his former team-mates Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Wes Brown, but adds he was ignored by his own brother Gary. According to Phil, his older sibling eventually acknowledged him once the Sky Sports cameras turned away, prompting the former Everton star to label Gary an “absolute idiot”.
“I was speaking to him about it the other day,” Phil later told MUTV. “It was one of the early games, and I went down the tunnel, and you just think he’s going to say hello. And he didn’t. He’s going to say something.
“I turned around. Giggsy said hello, Scholesy said hello. I think Wes [Brown] was there and said hello. And then there’s a camera right in front of where the captains are, and I thought, ‘typical Gary – he’s playing to the cameras, playing for show.’
“The minute we went past the camera, seriously, he went, ‘alright Phil, how’s it going?’ What an absolute idiot. For the cameras, for Sky Sports and his image, he thought, ‘I’m not saying hello to him’. I thought, ‘nah, that’s not for me’.”
It wasn’t just his big brother’s cold shoulder that made returning to play United tricky for future Lioness head coach Phil.
Reflecting on returning to Old Trafford as an Everton player, Phil added: “I hated it. Because you imagine the family. My dad wanted United to win, my mum just wanted me and my brother to get through the game unscathed.
“My twin sister was obviously in the Everton end, so it tore the whole family apart. It was just one of those games where I found… if United won, I probably got criticism from the Everton fans for being a United fan.
“If Everton won, my family wouldn’t speak to me. It was just one of those awkward situations – I just wanted that game out of the way.”
Perhaps it should be no surprise that big brother Gary went on to build such a successful punditry career, given his purported love of the camera.
