A few months after his 50th birthday, Gary Neville is in no danger of slowing down. Player, coach, manager, pundit, co-commentator, club owner, hotel and cafe owner, independent regulator backer, Labour supporter, even part-time Dragon, the former Manchester United defender hasnt been short of jobs over the decades. Every single thing he does, he approaches with the same passion.
Thats my whole life, I only do things Im really passionate about, he tells FourFourTwo with typical verve. I havent got time to be doing things that I dont feel a thrill from, that great enthusiasm to wake up in the morning.
As he speaks to us about another of his projects, it comes as no surprise that hes immediately talking with the same sincerity, desire and drive as he would about Manchester United.
Neville on creating his own university
Eight years ago, Neville, brother Phil and fellow Class of 92 team-mates Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt co-founded University Academy 92, in partnership with Lancaster University. The higher education institution opened next to Old Trafford cricket ground in 2019, initially offering degrees in accounting and finance, business studies, journalism, media and communications, physical education and sports science.
Now, its unveiling its first business of football degree, giving students the opportunity to learn a range of skills that could help them to gain a career connected to the beautiful game. Speaking to us to announce the degree, Neville is much more than the face of the project, brought in as a famous name to offer a few PR platitudes. No, as with everything else he does, its obvious hes all in and across every detail. Hes been involved in devising the subjects taught, and has helped to organise partnerships including with his own club, League Two Salford City.
At the beginning we didnt want to be pigeonholed into people thinking, Oh, theyre just a football university with the Class of 92, so we stayed away from football, he explains about the new degree. We started with about 75 students, in September were going to have 1,600, and its become apparent were best placed to deliver this degree and talk about football, not just with our ownership group of me, Ryan, Scholesy, Nicky Butt and Phil, but also the connections we have.
Weve got Altrincham FC, Salford City, Manchester United, the Wheelchair Football Association and the EFL all contributing towards this, which talks about the different areas of football. There are so many different areas now football clubs are property developers, concert holders, they have NFL games, theyre content and production units, theyre on documentaries, they deliver YouTube, journalism and magazines.
If you think of any job in the football sphere, not just clubs but outside of that like FourFourTwo, which has been around for a long time you need people with passion and understanding of different areas. From financial to operations, analytics to fan engagement, community to the womens game and all of the things that inform football.
The degree will cover many of those areas and is believed to be the first to also include on-pitch courses, on subjects such as using data analysis for player recruitment. A football clubs largest investment is on first-team players, so its making sure you dont make mistakes in that area, continues Neville. In every business, you have to recruit good people. To do that, we rely on our own feeling and judgement, meeting people and watching them, seeing what theyve done previously.
Now were able to rely upon this data bank that exists within the game: physical and performance data, understanding how to bring a specialism to your recruitment department Brentford, Brighton and clubs like that have taken it to a new level over the last five or 10 years. The clubs that recruit best are the ones who outperform.
It offers a new route into football not every young person is a talented player themselves, but plenty understand the game well enough to build a career.
Youre absolutely right, says Neville, who was ranked at no.15 in FourFourTwos list of the greatest Manchester United players ever.
The passion for football seems greater than ever stadiums are full, people love watching it, talking about it. Ive spent my life doing that.
Young people are more independent than ever before us 50-year-olds believe the young generation arent as tough, but I think theyre tougher than we were. We were almost told what to do by our parents you must do this, you must do that. Its very difficult to do that now with young people they know what they want and the areas they want to work in. I really admire that, and football is such an exciting area.
Neville, his former team-mates and key football figures will be among those who visit for guest lectures. The Class of 92 will be handing our experience over and you can only imagine the networks weve got, people who can speak to our students and give them a direct insight, says the footballer-turned-entrepreneur, whos also made several guest appearances as an investor on *Dragons Den*. That could be people in executive positions, media positions, data, analysis, recruitment.
Well also give students direct access to our information from Salford City real-life data of a football club and how it operates. Me and David [Beckham] are owners of the club, while Ryan, Nicky, Paul and Phil are all passionate about it and have been owners and investors we will transfer that knowledge.
Hes clearly committed to UA92. UA92 is probably the greatest thing weve ever done, the greatest thing Ive ever done, says Neville. We came up with this idea of a university eight years ago to impact young people. The Class of 92 were born out of people believing in, teaching and mentoring us, showing us the right standards.
We do that at UA92. We set it up to give back to young people, to give them a chance and a pathway in life. People ask me, What will you look back upon, the moment youre not here any more? I genuinely believe it could be UA92.
The business of football degree will begin in September, with further entry points available in November, January, February, April and June. Applications are now open for more information, visit UA92.ac.uk
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