As an elite footballer, Gary Neville was in the unique position of retiring at just 35. But for the former Manchester United and England right-back, stepping away from the pitch wasn’t the end of his working life – it was just the beginning.
Speaking at the MAD//UpNorth event at Aviva Studios on Thursday, Neville was clear that he didn’t want to be remembered solely as an ex-footballer.
“I knew I still had most of my working life ahead of me, and it had to matter,” he said. “I knew I needed to stay busy. I didn’t just want to be an ex-Manchester United player. I wanted to make the second half of my life count.”
Neville credits his relentless work ethic to the values drilled into him from a young age, both at home and during his time at Manchester United. He was surrounded by inspirational leaders, from legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson to hard-driving captains like Bobby Robson and Roy Keane, who reinforced the importance of discipline, passion, and old fashioned hard work.
Now an entrepreneur, broadcaster, and co-owner of multiple businesses, Neville says he can distill his approach to success into a few simple principles.
“It’s the simple things,” he explained. “You’ve got to be passionate about what you do – it makes life easier. You’ve got to get up, work as hard as you can, be counted. It’s really simple, and I’ve been lucky to have that embedded in me since a young age.”
His drive has helped him build a portfolio of businesses, including Hotel Football, Stock Exchange Hotel, Relentless Developments, Salford City FC, education disruptor UA92, and media production company Buzz 16.
He doesn’t sign up to the belief that young people aren’t as hard working as previous generations.
“Young people today get some unfair criticism,” he said. “They work as hard as ever. The world is changing, but they still have the drive and determination.”
He says he works out at 6am a few times a week and he’s the ‘oldest in there by some distance.’
That hard working, down to earth spirit is what he says makes Manchester special.
“Manchester is about people, camaraderie and spirit,” he said. “There’s opportunity here.”
One of the city’s major assets, he says, is the huge student population the city attracts.
“There are 100,000 students that come here and around 50% of them stay. Why do they stay? It’s not because we’ve got sun and a beach. They stay because we’ve made a connection with them.”
Neville’s talk was part of MAD//UpNorth’s “What Sets Us Apart” series, where he joined a star-studded lineup including comedian Lucy Beaumont, Ogilvy Vice-Chair Rory Sutherland, and AO World Founder and CEO John Roberts.
During the 20-minute chat, the former England right back also opened up about his failures in life, citing taking on the coaching job at Valencia as his ‘biggest mistake.’
He also credits it with teaching him a valuable lesson about when to ‘say no.’
