'Gary Neville plays up to Sky Sports cameras - I thought he was an idiot for what he did'

Gary and Phil Neville went from team-mates to rivals erstwhile the younger member moved to Everton from Manchester United, and determination was nary emotion mislaid erstwhile they reunited successful the passageway pre-match

Often, our brothers and sisters enactment arsenic our harshest critics.

When mum and dada were patting you connected the backmost for getting 9/10 successful that spelling test, your sibling would beryllium determination to punctual you that they got afloat marks.

This is surely existent for football's Neville brothers, who, contempt some having built awesome careers arsenic players for nine and country, person successful the past been keen to undermine each different erstwhile possible. Fans whitethorn retrieve their awkward brushwood during Gary's aboriginal Sky Sports' Monday Night Football tenure, dubbed the 'hello Phillip' incident.

However, the erstwhile Manchester United team-mates made things hard for each different during their playing careers too, and not conscionable connected the pitch. Before a clash betwixt Gary's United and Phil's Everton successful 2010, the brace lined up successful the Goodison Park passageway acceptable to pb their team-mates retired arsenic captains.

In a country of palpable awkwardness, the brace wherever filmed lasting successful implicit silence, not adjacent acknowledging each other. However, Phil aboriginal claimed that it was his member Gary that kicked disconnected the soundless treatment, adjacent adding that helium lone did it for the TV cameras.

Phil recalled saying hullo to his erstwhile team-mates Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Wes Brown, but adds helium was ignored by his ain member Gary. According to Phil, his older sibling yet acknowledged him erstwhile the Sky Sports cameras turned away, prompting the erstwhile Everton prima to statement Gary an "absolute idiot".

"I was speaking to him astir it the different day," Phil aboriginal told MUTV. "It was 1 of the aboriginal games, and I went down the tunnel, and you conscionable deliberation he's going to accidental hello. And helium didn't. He's going to accidental something.

"I turned around. Giggsy said hello, Scholesy said hello. I deliberation Wes [Brown] was determination and said hello. And past there's a camera close successful beforehand of wherever the captains are, and I thought, 'typical Gary – he's playing to the cameras, playing for show.'

"The infinitesimal we went past the camera, seriously, helium went, 'alright Phil, how's it going?' What an implicit idiot. For the cameras, for Sky Sports and his image, helium thought, 'I'm not saying hullo to him'. I thought, 'nah, that's not for me'."

It wasn't conscionable his large brother's acold enarthrosis that made returning to play United tricky for aboriginal Lioness caput manager Phil.

Reflecting connected returning to Old Trafford arsenic an Everton player, Phil added: "I hated it. Because you ideate the family. My dada wanted United to win, my mum conscionable wanted maine and my member to get done the crippled unscathed.

"My duplicate sister was evidently successful the Everton end, truthful it tore the full household apart. It was conscionable 1 of those games wherever I found… if United won, I astir apt got disapproval from the Everton fans for being a United fan.

"If Everton won, my household wouldn't talk to me. It was conscionable 1 of those awkward situations – I conscionable wanted that crippled retired of the way."

Perhaps it should beryllium nary astonishment that large member Gary went connected to physique specified a palmy punditry career, fixed his purported emotion of the camera.