PLAYING FOR FREE

Perhaps it is a sign he is getting old, but Gary Neville has started looking at the teenagers coming through in the game and found himself thinking: 'It wasn't like that in my day.'

The Manchester United and England full-back has benefited more than most during a career that has matured in the era of the Premiership and Sky Television, but he fears what will happen if the money bandwagon at the very highest level goes unchecked.

Wayne Rooney is already earning £35,000 a week at 17. Rooney, of course, is a unique talent who may one day develop into a great player, but it is what Neville is hearing about less talented youngsters that concerns him more.

'We were on £29.50 a week - that is what every YTS [Youth Training Scheme] player was earning at the time,' he recalls, thinking back to how much he was taking home when he was Rooney's age. 'Now you hear of young players commanding £100,000 signing-on fees. I'm not sure that is healthy, to know you've got that kind of security before you've even started. It has to soften you up.

'I'm glad I came through when I did because I believes it breeds a more honest animal. You know you've got to fight for everything and not have it given to you before you've even started. They've all got agents at 14 now and that's nonsense.'

As a committed Red since he was kid, Neville is passionate about the club. That was perfectly illustrated during United's New Year's Day match with Sunderland. As their side tried to equalise, he and brother Phil, who like him was a substitute that day, raced up and down the touchline in a manic fashion. Their celebrations when United did score matched any in the stands. 'You can't see or measure hunger,' he says.

'It is difficult to argue with someone if they say you haven't got it. But at the moment playing for United is something I need to fulfil my life. You come to realise this is the type of club where you are the best thing ever or, if you lose a game, it is presented as a crisis in the papers.'

Neville, 28 next week, has already won five Premiership titles and two FA Cups and played in a winning Champions League team. But you sense he derives even more pleasure from the fact he has done it all with the mates he grew up with in the youth team - Becks, Scholesy, Giggsy, the names slip easily off his tongue, as you would expect of friendships that have lasted more than half his lifetime.

'Ten or 11 are still playing in the Premiership. I don't think that can ever happen again, where 11 are playing professionally when they are 27, let alone at this level. 'It dragged us up, playing together every week. It gave us confidence. It makes you think, "I can do this". There's a bunch of mates with you and you didn't want to fall behind them.'

The feeling of esprit de corps, which allows United to foster a spirit that means they are never beaten until the final whistle and made them so loyal to the club, was forged in those early days. 'Between the ages of 14 and 20 I knew I was getting paid the same as the guy next to me,' says Neville. 'At 18 we all signed the same contract until we were 22. That breeds a team spirit of "we are all in this together". When you take that away and you've got one guy up here it takes something away from it and he starts to become selfish.

'I didn't start earning more money than someone of my age until I was 21, 22. I was playing for England and earning £210 per week. I knew people who could work as a plumber and labourer who could earn that. It didn't bother me because I knew I would get my rewards. 'I imagine if you are on £1,000 a week at 16, it would breed a thing of, "I want to play for the first team but I don't need to". I didn't want that kind of money before I'd played for the first team.' Perhaps age has nothing to do with Neville's opinion.

Perhaps he is simply more sensible and grounded than the average Premiership footballer you meet.