- A host of footballers are known to have odd rituals they complete before games
- Gary Neville was no different with the Man United great wearing the same pants
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Gary Neville has revealed he used to wear the same coloured underpants before every Manchester United game as part of his strange pre-match rituals.
United legend Neville, who retired from playing in 2011, won a host of trophies at Old Trafford, including eight Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues.
He has since admitted he was inspired by a number of quirky habits before stepping onto the pitch, a tendency also shared by a host of players both past and present.
One of Neville’s superstitions was especially peculiar, however, with the Sky Sports pundit pulling on white pants before games and avoiding other colours.
Speaking on Geoff Shreeves’ new podcast, Neville shed light on his routines.
Gary Neville has opened up on his array of bizarre pre-match rituals at Manchester United
United great Neville was inspired on to win a host of trophies by his peculiar superstitions
‘I used to wear the same coloured underpants every game during my career,’ he said, featuring on the first edition of the Football, Music and Me show.
Asked being quizzed by Shreeves on the colour, Neville replied: ‘White. It’s something I did. Same tubigrip, same tape. The physios knew it.
‘I used to put the same pants on, go to the same toilet to read the programme, even though sometimes I didn’t need the toilet, in the players’ lounge before every game.
‘Same seat on the coach, next to Becks [David Beckham]. I never shifted.’
Neville also recalled a lighthearted conversation with Jim Ryan, a former United first-team and academy coach, in which his superstitions were the butt of the joke.
‘There were things I did that were part of my routine,’ Neville added.
Neville won eight Premier League titles at United, each time wearing his white underpants
The player-turned-pundit even used to jog off the training pitch the same way before games
Neville was Geoff Shreeves’ first guest on his brand new podcast, Football, Music And Me
‘Jim Ryan once said to me, “It’s really interesting that the whole success of Manchester United depends on the colour of your underpants.”
‘He would take the p*** out of me. He’s actually got a point!
‘And then he said, “On an individual level, all those hours that you’ve worked all your life, thousands, hundreds of thousands, all that practice that you’ve put in and you’re putting a little bit of importance on the colour of your underpants.”‘
Previously, Neville revealed his pre-match routine would also see him leave the training pitch in a certain way and have specific massages on his back.
‘Even on the day before a game, coming off the training pitch on the day before the game, I used to zigzag sprint off the pitch,’ he told UTD Unscripted. ‘Every Friday.
‘At 17, I just knew I had to have a massage on my lower back. I didn’t even have a bad back. The physio, Jim McGregor, hated it.’
Geoff Shreeves is the chairman of Legends of Football, a charity gala in aid of music therapy charity Nordoff and Robbins. More information can be found here.
