Phil Neville has revealed he finally won over Everton fans by taking out Cristiano Ronaldo and angering his old Manchester United pals.
Some Everton supporters were slow to take to Neville because of his United past. That was until one crunching challenge on Ronaldo at Goodison Park in October 2008 changed their opinion.
Neville’s former United team-mates were furious with his meaty tackle on Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher and Rio Ferdinand confronted him to give him an earful of abuse. Neville insisted it was a fair challenge and says even Ronaldo agreed with him after the match.
The former England international made 303 appearances for Everton during his eight years at Goodison Park until his retirement in 2013 and felt that was the moment the fans finally accepted him.
“They always said I was a Manc,” Neville told the UTD Podcast. “The day I tackled Ronaldo, I did a really bad tackle on Ronaldo, was the day they changed their opinion on me because I went against the club they thought I loved.
“Do you know when you get those moments? You think, ‘I’ve got you here, I can go through you and win the ball’.
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“And I thought, wow, it was like having a tap-in. Then Giggsy and Fletch, two of my mates, and Rio came towards me, effing and blinding.
“And I’m saying, ‘Guys, I’ve won the ball’. I was walking away and not one Everton player came and helped me.
“It was funny because after the game, Giggsy said, ‘I would have done the same thing’. And I said to Giggsy, ‘I would have chased you down as well if you’d have tackled one of our players like that’. It was just one of those things.
“Ronaldo was absolutely brilliant. He obviously rolled around, but the ball went up the other end.
“I was playing right-back and he was left-wing and he just high-fived and winked at me and said, ‘Great tackle, I’d have done the same thing’.
“It was great and Ronaldo was brilliant.”
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