Neville gives 3 reasons why he snubbed ex-teammate in tunnel before derby

Gary Neville has told why he snubbed former Manchester United teammate Peter Schmeichel in the tunnel before a game.

The two, who played together for the best part of a decade in the 1990s, found themselves on opposing sides after Schmeichel joined arch rivals Manchester City in 2002.

In November 2002, the pair – captains of their respective sides – came face-to-face in the tunnel at Maine Road in the moments leading up to kick-off.

Footage showed the big Danish goalkeeper exchanging pleasantries with former teammates including Ryan Giggs before extending his hand to Neville.

The shake didn’t come. Instead, Neville averted his gaze and pushed past Schmeichel to stand on the opposite side of the tunnel, ready to walk out.

Now, some 16 years on, he’s explained why he gave his old comrade a frosty reception.

Speaking on the Quickly Kevin, Will He Score? podcast, he had already explained that Schmeichel was particularly "tough", even "brutal", with him when he was breaking into the United first team.

But he insisted the tunnel snub was nothing to do with that.

Describing Schmeichel as one of the true "world class" players he shared a dressing room with, he said their relationship was "good" after his first year or two in the first XI.

He said: "When you look back now and you’re 43, like I am, there’s two things about that. One, he left Man United at the age of whatever he was, 35, and he said he was retiring, basically to go abroad.

"At the time when he came back, he played for Manchester City . You can’t play for Manchester City. I’m a United fan and I can’t play for Manchester City, I can’t play for Leeds and I can’t play for Liverpool . That’s just written in stone. You just don’t play for those clubs, irrespective of what happens.

"He’d won the treble with United in ’99, said that he was retiring…he should have carried on playing for United for the next two or three years if that was the case. We struggled for a keeper between Peter and Edwin (Van der Sar)."

If his first reason seems justified, his second is possibly a little more unfair.

He added: "The other thing was at that time I hated everybody, we all did. Everybody hated us, we all hated everybody. That’s the way it was.

"With Sir Alex, you’re on an island and we were siege mentality. If you’re not on the island, do one."

Finally, he said the idea of shaking hands with an opponent before a game just wasn’t for him.

He said: "Shake hands at the end of the game when you’ve had the battle.

"I just think, I’m focusing before a game. I’m focusing on my first pass – which wasn’t always a good one – my first touch, my first tackle, my opponent and how I’m going to affect him in the first five minutes of that game.

"I can’t let him go past me on my first one-on-one – that’s impossible – because if he goes past me the first time he’s going to get confidence.

"I’m also going to run off him going forward to make him think he’s got to run back. The first time the ball is in the air, I’m going to win that header.

"All I’m thinking about before that game is that. The idea of talking to a player from the opposition – that would distract me.

"So you say about not shaking hands with Peter Schmeichel, but I didn’t shake hands with my brother when he was captain of Everton .

"And that’s not because I don’t like my brother – I do like him, he’s all right."

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