Sometimes there is a case of a player being good at more than one sport. AB de Villiers, for instance is good at both rugby and cricket. In football, there are also players who are good at something other than the sports they play to earn a living.

Gary Neville—along with his brother, Phil—was one such man. Growing up in a cricket-loving family, Neville played a lot of games as youth cricketer, something that—according to him—toughened him up.

"My dad played cricket every Saturday ... it was an institution in our lives," Neville said in an interview with Wisden Cricket Monthly. "I'd say cricket toughened me up in my early years a lot more than football, because I was playing in third, second and first team until the age of 15. We were playing with men, some professionals of that time, fast bowlers, with your helmet on. It was really scary."

The former England right-back was 14-year-old when a bowler who was over twice his age ‘mankadded’ him while the then teenager was backing up one the runners end. The young Neville protested a lot at that time, but now thinks that it was his fault too, comparing diving in football with mankadding.

"It was a lesson," he said. "You've got to smarten up. It's a bit like diving for a penalty. Football fans hate diving. But, to dive, you've got to give someone the chance to dive. I was the defender, if I gave someone the chance to dive, it's my fault, I've stuck a leg out. I take my responsibility.

"At the time I blamed him and thought it was unsporting but actually looking back at it now, 'I need to be smarter, shrewder, cuter'. The idea that you think you've been conned is actually not right, you should be smart enough. So cricket did teach me a lot in the early years about adult sport - mentality, the importance of winning, but also the social side of it."

The former Valencia manager then spoke at lengths about the great Australia team of the 90s and how that team was ran parallel with the Manchester United team of that era, stating that those two teams were the benchmark of their times.

"McGrath. Warne. Gillespie. Gilchrist. The Waughs. Hayden. Taylor. That Australian side was everything I would want in a team," he said. "You know what I love? The mentality. They were always on the front foot and they never backed off.

"That United team, you're 3-0 down against Tottenham, but you're thinking, we score one and we'll win this. That's the thing about that Australian team too. They know they're not beaten. The great teams apply pressure. Not just pressure on the pitch, but pressure up here [points to his temple]."

Gary was a very good cricketer. Indeed, he used to open with Australia legend, Matthew Hayden, for Greenmount’s and the latter had utmost faith in the former footballer’s ability, calming him down for their match-winning partnership in one game.

"I hit a bad shot, and Hayden came up to me and said, 'Concentrate, I don't want any of that crap, this is not the time'. That mentality of 'You don't get out, you don't give your wicket away'. That was something I didn't value enough. He did. Even then. He valued his wicket."