"I admire Gary Neville, believe it or not” | Phil Thompson's Greatest Leaders

What makes a great leader in football? Thats’s the question Jeff is asking former Liverpool captain Phil Thompson on this week’s episode of the pod. Thommo was himself a born leader, who lifted the European Cup as captain in 1981.
He talks about how Bill Shankly mapped out his entire career and the time Bob Paisley gave him his biggest rollicking, the best leaders he played with and why captaincy seems to matter more in the UK. He also reveals:
- The player that scared him the most
- How he pranked an England legend into believing he was joining Liverpool
- What he really thought about Alex Ferguson’s great Manchester United sides
Phil also talks about some of his lowest moments, including losing the captaincy at Liverpool to Graeme Souness and being overlooked to be England skipper at the 1982 World Cup, and recalls why Steve Gerrard took the armband from Sami Hyypia at Anfield and his emotional team talk before his first match as Liverpool’s caretaker manager.
You can catch our previous episode with Phil Thompson, where he picked his Top 5 Liverpool players, here:
KZbin - • Liverpool's Top 5 Grea...
Apple - podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...
Spotify - open.spotify.com/episode/5dp0...
Football's Greatest is a Folding Pocket Production with BBC Studios.
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[@footballsgreatestpod]

Who's the greatest leader YOUR club has ever had? 🤔

[@magic1968]

Steven Gerrard. He was good enough to lead (by example) any of Liverpool's teams.

[@topgazza]

Dave Mackay at Spurs. So talented but everyone remembers how tough he was which is true. But my word he could pass the ball with the best of them and score goals And he looked the part as well. He majestic in every aspect of his game. He just radiated respect and leadership

[@BelfastManUtdTherapy]

Roy Keane. Easy.

[@topgazza]

@@BelfastManUtdTherapy Roy had a lot of similarities to Dave Mackay. Uncompromising, no tolerance for shirkers yet superb football skills. Another good leader for sure

[@footballsgreatestpod]

@@magic1968 Made himself an icon

[@Skizzores]

When Liverpool won the European Cup in 81 the club wanted the trophy at Anfield the next day but Phil Thompson as captain had the cup in his local pub in Liverpool, taking photos with the regulars! 🤣

[@Derekduval963]

Absolutely fantastic. The passion that he has gor the game is incredible. Soccer Saturday should have had him on a retainer until his dying breath.

[@TheRaptorXX]

The enthusiasm and passion of Phil Thompson is catching. I watched him from when he started to when he finished and he was just the same. He just keeps improving with age!!

[@howwwwwyyyyy]

Great to see one of my heroes talking about his memories, I'll never forget him in tears on the pitch after we were knocked out of the European cup by forest,we had a few Scousers in the team back then,it made a difference

[@billybigtime2808]

Love having old school players on, keep it up these are excellent

[@RoyHodgson97]

Great conversation, Jeff, possibly your best one yet in my humble opinion. Your chemistry after working together for many years seem to shine through and you get the best out of him by letting him speak freely and Tommo is one hell of a story teller, his story about going into Shankly's office had me literally rolling on my back laughing🤣🤣🤣. This is football history and it's so important to get it out there, not only for LFC fans like myself but for football fans in general I think. Keep up the great work, you're a great host☺

[@footballsgreatestpod]

Glad you're loving the pod... Roy?? 😅

[@dixiedean609]

Fact, Harry catterick, Everton,won more League games than any other manager in the 1960,s

[@PauloTheGeek]

Won 2 league titles and FA Cup as well (in one of the most epic finals of the 20th century). Never gets mentioned though because he was Shankly's opposite, hated the press and was very private.

[@JohnByrne-po4tg]

As a man UTD fan great listening to Phil Thompson

[@rouman7]

Great player Phil. Sparrow legs but a top top player people talk about carra. Thomo was miles better..as a kid in the kop loved that team my fav player Peter Thompson

[@jamessutherington3471]

Legend❤

[@davyprendergast82]

Jeff have you thought about just starting your own Soccer Saturday again with Charlie Matt and Phil? Pretty sure it would soon have a bigger audience than the dross we get served now

[@craigwatson4565]

Matt's gone bonkers, mate.

[@Kurgan618]

Excellent interview. Just wished you'd asked him why England were so poor during a time of significant club success in Europe (aside from the usual about the key players being celts). And get him to be honest about the managers' and players' abilities and attitudes. Many of the 70s mavericks disliked him and other England regulars when brought into the England set up, for example. Was club tribalism a thing even back then? Also, yes, Shankly was remarkable, but Bob Paisley achieved the extraordinary and deserved an appraisal - some insight here would've been fascinating rather than a quick sentence about his removing the captaincy.

[@BobVance529]

I remember being at old Trafford in 02 with 70,000 fans singing “sit down Pinocchio” 😂

[@BelfastManUtdTherapy]

lol !!!!

[@davyprendergast82]

Some of the away fans chants back then were comedy. "He's got the whole world... for a nose, he's got the whole world... for a nose" "It's here, it's there, it's every phookin where, Thompson's nose, Thompson's nose"

[@footballsgreatestpod]

🤣🤣🤣

[@alanbell6189]

I was there when we were singing " you can see it wherever he goes , Thompsons nose , Thompsons nose Thompsons nose!

[@dahsellsavon113]

Phil drops some whoppers. Gerrard was never a shouter or got on peoples cases. He was a lead by example type, it was Carragher who was the dressing room enforcer.

[@Samboy666]

Tomo was too

[@leeholden8658]

As a Utd fan since 1976 I’d love to sit down with Liverpool players of the time and listen to all the stories of their playing careers. They must have some great stories to tell,highs and lows. @footballsgreatestpod maybe a get together of Tommo, Le Tiss, Merson and Charlie would be a great idea as you guys made Saturdays better and worth waiting for

[@r4h4al]

Off topic but would you ever go back to Countdown Jeff? I thought you were really great on that.

[@lage1984]

Can't wait for the Maradona interview

[@akhilesh5027]

Jeff you have to invite Tony Adams on.

[@peterhodge570]

Now Tony Adams was a real leader

[@akhilesh5027]

@@peterhodge570 Mr. Arsenal 💘

[@rybly]

Fantastic interview; Jeff Stelling and Thommo know how to entertain and talk football. Not sure why admin have written that headline though - a bit off-topic?

[@sharkymoon422]

Gary Neville being lined up for something big.. And his personality will be great for the elites.. The opposite of Matt le tiss, who stands for more..

[@dahsellsavon113]

Matt stands for the overweight middle aged dads who've spent too much time diving down rabbit holes and everyone rolls their eyes when they open their fat mouths.

[@howwwwwyyyyy]

He's talking about Bryan Robson,I think Roy Keane learnt a lot from him, passed him on a plane a few years ago and he was looking really well for his age and told him so, must have been a surprise coming from a scouser,lol

[@anthonyfoster5307]

Similar to yourself, Phil.

[@billybigtime2808]

Absolutely spot on comment

[@Rossboy2112]

You had to be a winner under fergie otherwise you wouldn’t last long and I’m an Arsenal fan imagine Pep vs Fergie with both thier prime teams what a rivalry I will say Arteta is catching up fast to compete with Pep he will deliver the premier league title back to Arsenal sooner rather than people think I think Arsenal pick up the champions league in the next 4/5 seasons especially if they keep Saliba Gabriel Rice Odegaard Saka hopefully 🙏 Isak will arrive as our marquee summer signing which I think he will with Timber fully fit aswell maybe a new midfielder I think that’s all Arsenal need

[@adrianbickley2303]

As a kid I hated this bloke but now! Wow I hang on his every word. Class! Biased but class 😂😂

[@adrianbickley2303]

Sami hipia a great player but Gary Neville not 😂😂😂😂 he’s class❤

[@BelfastManUtdTherapy]

Theres nothing about liverpool he doesnt nose.

[@legendkillerebay]

oh, I click on this video because thought it's Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill)... Never mind

[@markcordwell2035]

Big nose was hardly maradona himself

[@matthewhartley3729]

No, just the senior CB in a Liverpool side that conceded just 16 goals in a 42 game league season (1978/79).

[@leepatrick9432]

Did he say he was ?

[@dahsellsavon113]

Phil must smell farts from the other side of the globe.

[@user-bt8cz9nv4x]

Tommo was a disaster as the assistant manager at the Pool! He was always arguing with the players and generating strife amongst the players! Useless!

[@chriscolton6329]

😂 Didn't Robbie Fowler belt him, once, in training, at Mellwood?

[@user-bt8cz9nv4x]

@@chriscolton6329 I think you’re right, mate!

[@user-nf4yv8xk4z]

Mouth as big as his nose

[@PYPN]

SÈEMS TO SAY. WASNT THE BEST FOOTBALLER IN THE WORLD ALOT

[@Marklad62]

Thompson thinks he was better than he actually was

[@Marklad62]

A bit over the top for my liking

[@redmed10]

That fagan story makes no sense to me. Whats it got to do with his private life? Thommo a bit all over the place with his stories.

[@alancawfield6549]

Since he's retired he's been grossly overrated as a player in my opinion.He was a good player who was lucky enough to be on a great team but if you actually look at those Man Utd teams he was generally either the worst or second worst player on them for most of his career. Wes Brown (who nobody considered to be a great player) replaced him in the 07/08 and the won the league and champions league that year.

[@DPSamfish]

I think it's exactly the opposite and mostly because he allows people to do him down for laughs and does it himself because he's humble on principle - too humble for the world of dumbdumbs we now inhabit. Name a better English right back from 95/96 to 06/07... class player, all-rounder, superb crosser, organiser and tackler. Got done a few times by some of the best to ever play but that's true of nearly all defenders bar the absolute all-time elites.

[@monrush]

You obviously havent watched or read anything Gary Neville or others have said about him since he retired. Nevile is extremely self-deprecating and others like Keane and Carragher (who was a better player than Carragher with a vastly better / more successful career) take the mickey out of him. The fact is that because Neville was a right back, seemingly not that skillful or athletic and played in a very good United team(s) people feel that they could have had his career and so are very revisonist about his career. I know people that looked at Neville when he was playing and thought that they were better and why don't they have the career/ bank account that he does. He wasn't world class ( which in my classification is in the top 5 of his postion at any time in his career) but he was a very good right back (not the same as a very good player) who was extremely consistant for United and decent for England.

[@alancawfield6549]

@@DPSamfish Wasn't exactly much competition amongst other english players apart from Lee Dixon (who was 12 years older than him).Danny Mills (no great shakes) replaced him at times and they hardly missed Neville. Neville was a good player but since hes retired he's been over hyped.He was well behind his contemporaries world wide in that position like Cafu,Zanetti,Thuram and numerous others yet people act like Neville was one of the best in the world when really he wasn't.

[@madforit2]

​@@alancawfield6549 Neville is a perfect example of timing is everything. He wouldn't get in the squad now. He was mediocre

[@CidersAndReligiousCrusades]

Neville won the Treble in '99

[@GJR1977]

Sad old man you don’t play that many games and win as many trophies as Neville did with United without having quality and winning so many England caps

[@bigbernie7260]

The Neville sisters would of hardly won a cap between them if the ex - Liverpool full back Rob Jones had not had his career ruined by injuries.