Phil Neville

Opinions were highly polarized when David Moyes acquired Phil Neville from Manchester United — the odd one out in a long list of missed transfer targets that haunted Everton through the Summer of 2005 as player after player failed to complete a move to Everton when they had the chance.  Was he an astute capture based on his experience, a moderately expensive United reject... or a convenient signing at a time when Manchester United were due to pay their second £10M payment for bargain-buy Wayne Rooney?

Neville promised to re-establish strength and dominance in the central midfield position that had been weak since since Thomas Gravesen was sold at the start of 2005.  He may have been a better holding player than Tommy, but was not as dynamic going forward.  He got rave reviews when Sir Alex Ferguson played him in centre midfield a couple of years before his departure from Old Trafford, which only made one wonder why, if was really that good, was he not getting the games for United?

He had 50 caps for England — albeit mostly at left back — when he joined Everton, which is no mean feat; you do have to have had genuine quality to win 50 caps. The question was, did he still have it?  Still 'only' 28 years old, he should have been entering his prime years when experience really starts to count — that and his versatility were what made this a potentially important acquisition for the Blues as they prepared for their first foray into the Champions League. 

"It was a hard decision (to leave Manchester United) but I looked at it from a football point of view and I needed to play regular football.  Everton stood out more than anyone," he said.  "I was desperate to join Everton; Everton were desperate to sign me.  The contract took five minutes to agree.  There has never been any fuss with me, the most important thing is that I wanted to play for Everton and nothing was going to stand in my way".

The 28-year-old, often regarded as on the periphery at Old Trafford despite over 300 starts in a success-laden decade for Manchester United, will started at around £28k/wk and started well enough, even pulling strings in forward positions at Villarreal in the ill-fated Champions League qualifiers. He was poor, though, in Everton's early-season crisis of confidence, goals, etc.  Everton needed leadership and he was one of the better candidates to provide it, but just did not seem to be delivering.

As Everton recovered after a dreadful start to become the first team to take any points off Chelsea, Neville was forced to spend more and more time at left-back, where he did not overly impress.  But the switch back to midfield came on his return to Old Trafford, where he put in a towering performance in the centre of the park.  He made numerous interventions, breaking up United's play with sheer guts and willpower.  He covered every blade of grass, and was quietly a huge influence on the rest of the team.  His distribution was also good.

Yet while fans remained divided about Phil Neville,  David Moyes clearly loved him, appointing him team captain after David Weir left the club, and was astounded when Sven Göran-Eriksson finally dropped him from the England squad.

As Moyes started adding more quality to his squad, it became clear that Neville's best position was at right back where he provided much of Tony Hibbert's defensive ability but offered far more in attack. This was exemplified in Everton's first win at White Hart Lane for two decades when he provided the ammunition for Andy Johnson to score one of two goals in an impressive victory by 10-man Everton.

Although he is not by any means an elegant footballer — his main strengths are harrying the opposition and rallying his teammates... and occasionally picking up silly yellow cards — Phil was devastated when he missed out on the World Cup for a third time in succession.

At Goodison, the transition of Neville to captain seemed to inject a greater steel and coherence into Everton in the 2006-07 season as they slowly crept back up the table and finished a very creditable 6th in the Premier League. 

Expectations were raised for the following campaign but the failure by Moyes to inject either more flair or steel into central midfield — Manuel Fernandes's startling u-turn towards the end of the summer transfer window put paid to the former — and injury to the returning Thomas Gravesen meant that Neville was tasked with running central midfield, first alongside Lee Carsley and then Phil Jagielka. Both partnerships proved ill-advised as Moyes struggled to find his best XI in the autumn of 2007 and Neville again found his best form at right back.

By Michael Kenrick and Lyndon Lloyd
Last updated January 2008