Gary Neville shakes head as he recalls ‘awkward’ phone call between Glenn Hoddle and Sir Alex Ferguson in England furore
Gary Neville said Sir Alex Ferguson was furious with ex-England boss Glenn Hoddle as the two clashed about international duty call-ups.
The former Manchester United captain made 85 appearances for the Three Lions - all of which came while he was playing under Ferguson at Old Trafford.
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The former right-back played for Hoddle's England at the 1998 World Cup, but in one of the camps before the tournament, he had returned from international duty at the request of Ferguson.
However, according to Neville, the route to that wasn't quite as smooth as the Scotsman would've liked.
"I only pulled out of two friendlies where a deal was done with the manager and England, only two," he told the .
"One under Glenn Hoddle, he wasn't happy, and then one under Kevin Keegan.
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"Glenn got me into a room. Well, he basically - I did have a slight issue - but he [Ferguson] wanted me back basically.
"So Glenn had this thing, if you were injured you still have to come [to camp], 'we'll give you treatment here'.
"So a couple of days in, I got a call from the physio at the club, 'get back here and have treatment'.
"But he [Hoddle] said, 'no, you're having it here'. So I went in to see Glenn and said, 'look Glenn, the club want me back, they said they can give me more intense treatment there than in a hotel room'.
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"He said 'no, you're having treatment here'. Anyway, the boss rang him."
As Neville slowly shook his head as he recalled the moment, colleague Ian Wright then asked if Ferguson - who was known for his no-nonsense approach - 'blasted' him.
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"Yeah. And then he said, 'you're going back, but I never want to be put in that position ever again.'"
Neville's former Man United teammate Roy Keane then chimed in to say how awkward those situation were, to which Neville replied: "Yeah, it was awkward.
"I'm 23 at the time by the way, it's 1998/99, in fact, it was '97, so I'm 22, 23 at the time."
He continued: "You're hoping the physio or the manager would sort it out.
"But Glenn was a bit spiky, whereas Kevin was a bit more - he'd have a conversation and was more mature weren't he?"
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Hoddle's England contract was terminated in early 1999, with Keegan replacing him two weeks later and staying in charge until October 2000.
In his book, Hoddle said: "Dealing with United wasn't easy.
"There were problems getting players to report for duty at times and I had a row with Ferguson over two of his players before one friendly.
"His conduct was unprofessional when we spoke on the phone. I wasn't going to use the players but I wanted them to join up because we were preparing for the World Cup.
"But he wasn't having it. He was ranting and raving, even when I said I would send them back once the meetings were out of the way. I can't repeat what he called me. I just put the phone down. He called back to apologise but he wasn't happy."
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