The eulogies to Gary Neville on his retirement have mostly made virtues of his limitations. The words ‘passion’, ‘heart’, ‘dogged’ and’ commitment’ have featured heavily. ‘Skill’, ‘technique’, ‘poise’, ‘balletic’? Not so much.
All the obituary writers have correctly pointed out that Neville made the absolute most of his limited talent.
Immediately after the announcement, many commentators rushed to call him the best right-back of the Premier League era.
In truth, he was not even the second best footballer in his family (and that is an assumption made on having never seen sister Tracey, the former England netball captain, play football).
The Times journalist Patrick Barclay asked his Twitter followers on Wednesday to nominate full-backs better than Neville in the Premier League, and was overwhelmed by suggestions.
Dan Petrescu, Lee Dixon, Dennis Irwin, and Gary Kelly were all nominated, and the two Irishmen in particular have great claims for the title.
Indeed, Barclay admitted that he had all but forgotten Kelly (“A sort of Daniel Alves, except better. I'd forgotten him and how good he was.”), which shows if nothing else the ephemeral nature of footballing fame.
Neville will never be forgotten like Kelly, and not simply because of the in-your-face attitude and self-belief that made him such a target of contempt for fans of opposing clubs.
Neville made himself indispensable to Manchester United and England for over ten years, ever aware of his limitations but fitting himself seamlessly into every team he played for.
Two snapshots of Neville on the pitch sum up his career, and both come at the twilight of his career. The first is his appearance as an 81st minute substitute in the Champions League tie against Roma in April 2008.
Neville had not played for over a year with a succession of injuries, but with the tie already well won, Sir Alex Ferguson gave him a run-out for the last nine minutes. Neville frolicked around in midfield with urgency and enthusiasm, with the delighted crowd urging him to shoot every time he got the ball within 40 yards of the goal.
For the United fans in the ground, Neville was one of them, and though they recognised his limitations, they were desperate for him to prove that he still had enough of his game about him to keep playing at the highest level.
What showed Neville’s influence at Old Trafford was when he ran onto the pitch that night, however. Rio Ferdinand, who was captaining the side, immediately, unprompted, walked over to Neville to give the older man the armband. Red Nev was United’s leader and their shop steward, and the armband was simply the physical manifestation of the influence he had within the dressing-room.
The second incident happened over a year later, when Michael Owen hit the injury-time winner in the 4-3 victory over Manchester City in September 2009.
Emotion taking over completely, unused substitute Neville charged down the touchline to roar tribally at the City fans. Then, remembering where he was, who he was, and the trouble his actions were likely to cause, he attempted to get out of his predicament by transforming his fist-pumping roar into a half-hearted set of warm-up star-jumps.
It was ridiculous and hilarious, but it showed Neville for who he was. He was a fan first, a player and club captain second.
And, typically unselfishly, he did not want to become a burden on the club as his talents waned.
"Last year and the year before I played 30 games and felt I was contributing. Once you've lost that, it's not right. Don't be a passenger," he told MUTV.
It is why the mourning for his retirement is so heartfelt in the Red side of Manchester.