Gary Neville has confirmed that, after making 602 appearances for Manchester United over the course of an illustrious 20-year one-club career, he is to retire from football with immediate effect.

With Giggs and Scholes plodding on at Old Trafford, Becks still harbouring dreams of World Cup glory, Nicky Butt banging them in for fun out in Hong Kong and brother Phil still skippering Everton, Neville becomes the first of Sir Alex Ferguson’s oft-lauded ‘kids’ to call time on their career  – with a recent string of debilitating injuries (he’s only played 33 times in the last four years) eventually proving to be insurmountable for the 35-year-old.

Sir Alex also used the occasion to mark Neville as ‘the best English right-back of his generation’

Personally not sure how he ever managed to play for so long or how he managed to get so many caps. Every time I saw him play I wished I’d taken my boots as if he got a game, there would have been a damn good chance I would have!

Have you ever found anyone except Man Utd fans or Sir Alex who ever said they’d seen him have a good game?