Part of a Manchester United side heavily reliant on an outstanding group of academy players, it has been revealed that Gary Neville has left clear and visible instructions for those who would like to follow suit.
In what almost amounted to a 20-year spell United's first team, Neville, along with the likes of his brother Phil, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and David Beckham constituted the spine of a team that would dominate both domestically and in Europe.
Leaving something for those who would like to achieve similar feats with the club, it has been revealed that Neville issued 14 rules for players to follow.
Given pride of place in the changing room for the academy team, it has not been determined why these instructions were released now.
However, they do make for an interesting insight into what Neville values, and believes young players should be doing should they wish to succeed.
Gary Neville's 14 Pieces of Advice for Young Players:
1. Choose who you follow.
2. Give 100 per cent all the time. You have never arrived at Manchester United so you must maintain a high standard all the time, every day.
3. Always remember why you began to play football — you loved it for its own sake and not as a means to get money, fame, girls, cars etc.
4. Ownership and responsibility — take care of your own affairs thus learning to do things for yourself, and not relying on others to do things for you: bank accounts, passports and so on. Make your own decisions!
5. Analyse and assess your own performance — be your own coach.
6. Have a strong work ethic — work harder than anyone else and you’ll overtake players with far more talent than you have.
7. Give the profession all that you have got, and you’ll have no regrets.
8. You have to have character and personality to play for Manchester United which you can develop over time.
9. Be a risk taker because it is a different kind of leadership.
10. Success and failure are two sides of the same coin, and you have to deal emotionally with both experiences. Remember that if you win or lose you can still have that Chinese on a Saturday night — keep things in perspective.
11. Learn more about yourself and what works for you.
12. Don’t leave anything to chance.
13. There are different routes to reach the top and very few players go ‘route one’ — like [Ryan] Giggs or [Wayne] Rooney. The challenge for you is to find the right pathway because we’re all different.
14. The ability to deal/cope with injuries is vital and should be approached with a strong mentality. See injury as an opportunity to develop body strength, and ‘reset’ your mind (refresh) for the various challenges ahead.
