Neville Neville (26 September 1949 – 7 August 2015) was a British league

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er, football agent and director. His sons are the former professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

players

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...

and

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teamma ...

and his daughter is the professional

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player and coach

Tracey Neville Tracey Anne Neville (born 21 January 1977) is a former England netball international and a former England head coach. As a player, she was a member of the England teams that won bronze medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and the 1999 Worl ...

Cricket career

Neville played cricket for Greenmount Cricket Club in the

Bolton Cricket League The Bolton Cricket League is a cricket league comprising fifteen teams in and around Bolton, Greater Manchester in North West England. The league runs competitions at First Team, Second Team, Under 18, Under 15, Under 13 and Under 11 levels. It exp ...

during the 1980s. His daughter Tracey cites this as her earliest sporting memory.Gareth A Davies (12 June 2006)
My sport: Tracey Neville
telegraph.co.uk; accessed 7 August 2015.

Family

Neville and his wife, Jill, the one-time general manager and Club Secretary of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Football League club

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

, had three children: Gary and twins

Tracey Tracy, Tracey, or Tracie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tracy (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname, also encompassing spelling variations Places United States * Tracy, C ...

and

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root ter ...

. Neville was the

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

for his two sons. The elder Neville represented the two younger Nevilles during contract talks with their respective clubs. When his eldest son Gary decided to postpone any

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

until his playing career was over, Neville stated that "In this day and age when players earn such fantastic amounts of money we think it would be better to create some kind of facility for the supporters."

Football and charity work

Neville was a director of club

of the

Football League. He was the spearhead and vice-chairman of the ''"Save our Shakers"'' appeal which was a bid to give financial assistance to the struggling football club after it had gone into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

. The campaign was "brilliantly orchestrated"Forever Bury
, Bury Football Club website, 1 June 2007; accessed 7 August 2015. by Neville and he was praised for tirelessly organising supporters groups, giving media interviews and working closely with the administrators to arrange a deal to secure the club's safety. In November 2015, the main stand at

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, G ...

was posthumously named after him as a tribute to his contributions as club director.

Name

Neville achieved something of a cult status among football fans because of his unusual name. His name is part of what has been called "one of the best chants in football": :''Neville Neville, they're in defence'' :''Neville Neville, their future's immense'' :''Neville Neville, they ain't half bad'' :''Neville Neville, the name of their dad'' :''Neville Neville your future's immense'' :''Neville Neville you play in defence'' :''Neville Neville you ain't half bad'' :''Neville Neville is the name of your dad'' (Sung to the tune of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's "

Rebel Rebel "Rebel Rebel" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released in the UK in February 1974 by RCA Records as the lead single from the album ''Diamond Dogs''. Written and produced by Bowie, the song is based around a distinctiv ...

Arrest

On 26 March 2013, Neville was arrested by

Greater Manchester Police Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. , Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...

on suspicion of indecent assault. He was released on bail until May of that year, pending further inquiries. He was found not guilty on 19 December 2013.

Death

Neville died on 7 August 2015 in Sydney at the age of 65, following a heart attack. He took ill while in Australia to support his daughter Tracey, England's netball coach, during the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. Manchester United players wore black armbands during their game against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

on 8 August 2015 while the England netball team observed a minute's silence prior to their Third Place match, which they won. Neville's funeral took place on 27 August 2015 in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neville, Neville 1949 births 2015 deaths British sports agents English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 People acquitted of sex crimes Place of birth missing Neville family (sports)