Neville: Parting was such sweet sorrow

Phil Neville has admitted it was only after leaving Manchester United he realised how extraordinary a manager Sir Alex Ferguson is.

The Everton full-back is looking forward to facing his former club at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

"Now I am not working with him, some of the things he does makes me laugh," he told MUTV. "You can see the mind games he plays with other clubs and players, both his own and those from other teams. When you are at Manchester United, you tend to get caught up in it all because you are fighting for the same thing."

Neville, 29, arrived on Merseyside in the summer of 2005 after graduating to United's first team - and England - from the youth ranks.

And Neville said he adopted good traditional habits during his years at United.

"You might be 3-0 up and winning a game comfortably but if you let your standards drop you could expect a real rollicking," he added.

"It was a good lesson in the sense you want to keep going for the full 90 minutes. It teaches you the winning habit."

Neville admitted Ferguson scared him rigid when he was breaking into the team.

"As a youngster, all I can remember about the manager was total fear when he came into the dressing room," said Neville.

"You could hear him coming down the steps and I used to scamper out of the way. He was this headmaster-type figure."