Wheeling Out The Class Of ’66’

Gary Neville wants to join the ‘Ton Up Brigade’ and pick up 100 England caps, but it will mean nothing unless he wins the World Cup.

Neville, 31, has appeared 78 times for his country since making his debut 11 years ago.

Neville: ‘It’s okay amassing a great number of caps, maybe getting to a century, but people forget about caps. They get a mention every so often in a quiz or some sort of statistical book.

‘What I think people remember is players who play in teams that win things. Everyone talks about England – and everyone talks about 1966 – absolutely everyone.

‘Even coming into this tournament, the players from 1966 are all wheeled out. They are all talking about their experiences, they are all getting commercial deals and they are all getting adverts.

‘They will carry on doing adverts for the next four years unless we win it – and rightly so. They should be bragging for ever more. They have won a World Cup. It’s the biggest tournament that you can win.

‘It was the same with United. The 1968 European Cup-winning team was always mentioned in Manchester and rightly so because they won the European Cup and now the 1999 team gets mentioned.

‘I think it’s the same with England. Until another England team wins a major tournament, you are always going to have previous and history rammed down your throats.

‘All we have got to do is think about playing in and winning that game on July 9, every single player, because that is the only way you are ever going to be remembered as a great England team.’