Gary Neville has opened up about his career outside of football
Gary Neville has admitted he led a "double life" for more than a decade at Manchester United in order to avoid the wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Neville spent his entire playing career at United, winning eight Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues, three FA Cups and three League Cups before moving into coaching and media work after hanging up his boots in 2011.
However, he also owns a property company after going into business with former United trainee Paul Devine, whose football career came to a premature end due to injury. And Neville says he was forced to run the business "under the radar" or else Ferguson would have been on the warpath.
"For 10 to 12 years, I had this almost like double life," Neville told the Daily Mail. "I did it under the radar, purely because I knew that it would be deemed as a distraction. Under Sir Alex, distraction was absolutely illegal, you know that.
Gary Neville and ex-Man Utd star in disagreement as Liverpool's Alisson snubbed all round
"But I knew that my football career would come to an end, and I knew that I had to plan for it, I knew that I had to do something different and I loved it. The meetings, the thrill of the interior design, the selling part of it, the finding the land, the planning."
Neville also used to spend flights home from European matches during the late 1990s focusing on his business. "I used to bring architect's drawings with me. You have two hours on the way home on the plane," he added.
"You can't sleep. You're wired. I'd make sure no one was sat next to me and I'd get them out. While Teddy [Sheringham] and Dwight [Yorke] and that lot were playing cards, I'd be looking at drawings."
Neville had to lead a "double life" at Manchester United to avoid the wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson
Neville also now owns a production company and has gone into business a number of his fellow Class of '92 graduates, with the group co-owning a hotel, university and League Two club Salford City together.
Singaporean businessman Peter Lim recently sold his stake in the club and Neville is now looking for fresh investment. "We're currently in the play-offs in League Two and we have a good team and a good manager," Neville explained.
"I watch every single game. Peter was amazing. He supported us in all our projects. But he's exiting so we're currently speaking to different partners and different ways of doing it moving forward."
Join our new MAN UTD WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Manchester United content from Mirror Football. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.