- Gary Neville and Brian McClair disagree over Man United strike song
- Both men have claimed that they were responsible for choosing ‘This Is The One’.
- Ian Ladyman: Why I’m glad England lost to Brazil – Listen to the everything is beginning podcast
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Gary Neville has doubled down on his claim that he chose Manchester United’s strike song at Old Trafford despite Brian McClair denying his story.
United players emerge from the tunnel to the start of the Stone Roses’ iconic hit ‘This Is The One’, taken from their self-titled debut album, on home match days.
Neville has long taken credit for bringing the record to United’s home and revealed that he selected the song while captain to better reflect the club’s Mancunian roots.
But McClair, who spent more than a decade at United between 1987 and 1998, claimed Sir Alex Ferguson gave him the honor long before Neville became captain.
While a guest on broadcasting legend Geoff Shreeves’ show new podcast, Football, Music and MeNeville was asked to respond to McClair’s explanation.
Gary Neville has doubled down on his claim that he selected the Manchester United strike song
Brian McClair had insisted that he had chosen the song and believes Neville misremembered it.
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“Brian McClair left Man United in 1998,” Neville said. ‘The Stone Roses didn’t start playing until 2006. What I don’t rule out is that maybe it was played when Brian was there. I can’t remember that at all.
‘But what I do know is that when I arrived as captain, there were two things. We didn’t have music in the dressing room, the manager said no. I’m not sure Roy (Keane) liked me at the time, so he never showed up.
“But when I became captain, I think Patrice (Evra) or Rio (Ferdinand) said: ‘Can we have music in the locker room?’ I went and asked the manager and he said yes. We made sure it was a song that represented the entire dressing room.
‘That was the only thing I wanted at that moment, not to have one type of music but to have a different representation of the music of everyone who was in our dressing room and their different tastes. At the time, we were coming out with a Rocky song.
‘Basically, I said it wasn’t right. We hadn’t been successful for three years. I dispute Alan (Keegan’s) history, where he came to see me.
“I think I went to the club secretary, Ken Merrett, and said I thought we needed to change the song on the way out. There’s no doubt I was asked. “If you search the internet and say who played This Is The One at Old Trafford, Gary Neville will say.
United enter the Old Trafford pitch with The Stone Roses’ popular hit, ‘This Is The One’
McClair claimed he opted for the track after a conversation with former boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
Neville was the guest on the first edition of Geoff Shreeves’ podcast, Football, Music and Me.
‘This is not from recent times, this goes back to history.
‘Brian left nine years before that. If that song was playing in the mid-90s and I hadn’t remembered it at the time… I wouldn’t call Brian a liar. Brian is not a liar, he is a man of honor. I would need to talk to Brian.
McClair took to social media to declare that Neville had potentially misremembered.
Posting on X, he wrote: ‘A figment of Alan and Gary’s fertile imagination!
“Fergie wasn’t happy with Tina Turner, she wanted Matt Monroe’s ‘Walk Away’, when I laughed at this she got angry and suggested I pick a tune (not her exact words!).
‘I chose the Roses, man!’
Listen to Geoff Shreeves’ new podcast Football, Music and Me here.
