Phil Neville's Manchester United teammates were unimpressed by one of his habits during matches
An ex-Manchester United star has revealed an annoying habit of Phil Neville's which saw him labelled with 'one the worst insults in football'.
The defender made 386 appearances for United after coming up through the club's academy with his brother Gary. He was part of the famed 'Class of '92' alongside David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt.
Neville was a popular figure at Old Trafford before leaving to join Everton in 2005. However, former United goalkeeper Ben Foster has lifted the lid on an irritating tactic he used to try and grab the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson while warming up as a substitute during matches.
The former England and Wrexham shot stopper, who was at United for five years, said it saw Neville described as 'busy' by his colleagues - a term used to describe someone who is too eager to try and please their manager.
"Busy is one of the worst slurs in a football training ground," Foster said on the Fozcast podcast. "It covers a whole magnitude of parts of your game. The reason why people call other players busy is because they feel they're doing things not out of being professional, but they're doing it out of being a bit weaselly.
"I remember famously that Phil Neville used to go and warm up on the sideline when he was a player, and he would make a point of doing star jumps right in front of the dugout. This is so the manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, or whoever it was when he was at Everton would see him doing it.
Phil Neville won plenty of silverware at United
"It might just jog his memory enough to go 'he's keen, I might put him on'. But the other players sitting on the bench or warming up alongside him would see him doing it and go 'Phil's busy'. It's doing things not because of what needs to be done but to try and gain an advantage."
Foster said someone whose behaviour was in stark contrast was fellow Class of 92 alumni Scholes. He said the midfielder was often reserved off the pitch and preferred to let his football do the talking.
He said: "Paul Scholes wasn't really interested in that, but he didn't need to be. He did his talking out on the pitch. He was a man of very few words, but the words he did say would be out on the football pitch."
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