GARY NEVILLE SAYS he and his former Manchester United team-mates ‘didn’t even need to think about it’ when asked by Roy Keane to come over to Cork and play in next month’s Liam Miller memorial match.
The line-ups for the tribute game between a Manchester United XI and a Republic of Ireland/Celtic selection were confirmed earlier, with Neville among a host of players set to come out of retirement in honour of the Cork native.
Miller, who played 22 times for Man United during a two-year stay at Old Trafford, sadly passed away at the age of 36 in February following a short battle with pancreatic cancer, and those who played alongside him will play in his memory at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Tuesday 25 September.
Speaking at The42 headquarters today, Neville remembered ‘a quiet and unassuming team-mate, who was a great professional.’
“He was a great talent,” Neville said. “It’s a tragedy really what’s happened. Roy asked us to play in the summer. Myself, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Nicky [Butt] I know are coming over because we’ve got a group WhatsApp and it was on there last week.
“We’re all going to come over and play in the game. It will be a great honour to do so for him and hopefully a lot of people come out and watch it and we can put on a good show.”
The Sky Sports pundit added: “He was a big talent. Obviously to get into the Manchester United team is tough. A big talent, somebody who could pick his time to move forward into the box, had really good energy and a tough character.
“Didn’t quite break into the team, but to play for Manchester United once — I always used to think to play for Manchester United once was a big achievement.
“Somebody who was a great professional and did his job very well. It has hit us all in the last period, what has happened to him.”
The benefit match is the brainchild of a number of people who knew and worked with Miller, including his former manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Keane, who not only played alongside him for United and Ireland but was his manager at Sunderland.
Keane will lead the United XI, which also includes Old Trafford legends Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Denis Irwin, Jaap Stam, Louis Saha, Nicky Butt and Rio Ferdinand.
“It would take something like this for us to do it,” Neville said of togging out again. “It’s just something you don’t even think about when something like this is requested, you just say yes straight away and make sure you come.
“There wouldn’t be much to bring us out of retirement, or to bring us to play together but this definitely would. It was something you didn’t even need to think about. We have to do it, we want to do it and it’s something we want to do with pride and give our all for.”
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