Gary Neville reveals lowest moment of career when he ‘lost everything’ before Euro 2000 with England
The former Manchester United star remembers a difficult time as a player and the positive impact it had on him in the years that followed
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Your support makes all the difference.Gary Neville has opened up on the time he “lost everything in a six-month period” cultimating in a nightmare tournament for England at Euro 2000.
Neville remembers a difficult spell of form for Manchester United, including big mistakes in the Club World Cup.
And distractions in his private life appeared to hinder Neville on the pitch, with the Sky Sports pundit admitting he “went under.”
“I had one massive dip, I had a break up in a relationship after seven years and I gave two goals away [vs Vasco de Gama] in Brazil in the World Cup Championships and we got knocked out,” Neville told the Blank podcast.
“It was just before the European Championships in 2000 under [England manager] Kevin Keegan. People probably won’t remember it. I just went under, I was going onto the pitch distracted, thinking of other things.
“Didn’t want the ball, lacked confidence, my belief went, didn’t know where my next good game was going to come from. I didn’t know where my next good pass was going to come from. I just really lost everything in a six month period and I needed the summer break after the Euros.
“I remember just having that four week block of doing nothing and just clearing my head and resetting. And then saying right I’m going to work harder than I’ve ever worked in my life, and that was it. First day of pre-season I started doing triple sessions I started having extra massages extra stretching, extra weights. First game of the season got through it without making a mistake and went on from there.”
In addition to his extra work in training, Neville saw a psychologist, which he did not tell anybody about until three years ago.
“I saw psychologist at the time, during that six month period. He simplified things for me as well,” Neville added. “He said: ‘Just slow everything down in your mind, think about simple things. You’ve practiced thousands of hours to get to this point.’
“Players are better looked after and more aware now. If you’d have said mental health or depression in a dressing room 20 years ago you’d have been laughed at and told to get on with it. I didn’t tell anybody about [seeing a psychologist] until three years ago.
“At the time coming out to [my team-mates] and telling them I was seeing a psychologist would have been seen as a weakness. It would have been seen as a weakness in life not just football.
“The idea of going and speaking to your boss – in football or any job – and saying I’m feeling really down my confidence is low... he’s picking the team! So you don’t feel comfortable. Same with the coach.
“You don’t feel comfortably going to your team-mates because you don’t want to burden them with it partly and you don’t want to bring your problems upon them, you don’t want to bring your problems from home into the workplace.
“So then you tell yourself ‘who do I go and see?’ and the person who is always trusted at a football club most is the doctor. He said why don’t you see somebody and I said ok I will do. I never saw it as a psychologist, I just saw it as someone who I could actually confide in and speak to and help me make sense of my feelings and thoughts and compartmentalise them.”
Listen to the full interview here as Gary Neville discusses his career on and off the pitch on the BLANK podcast.
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