Rivals to miss mercurial Neville

London: The moment I woke up in New York on Wednesday and discovered Gary Neville had retired, I hit twitter with the first words that came to mind: "Farewell to the most annoying player in the history of world football."

Within seconds I was bombarded with abuse from Manchester United fans all over the world and congratulations from fans of every other team. And there, in the proverbial nutshell, is the dichotomy that is Gary Neville.

Loved by his own, despised by everyone else. And he would not have it any other way.

My own hatred for the player ran so deep that the mere sight of him would make me come out in blazing boils of fury. As his former colleague, Jaap Stam, so memorably observed in those ill-fated memoirs a few years ago, Gary and brother Phil were "a pair of busy little ****s". And the Dutchman did not mean they were always occupied.

From the moment Neville walked out on the pitch he'd irritate me. He was like the worst kind of office block shop steward. Every brawl Arsenal ever had with United involved Neville. But he always played the role of "hooligan spotter" — the spotty kid who set up the fight, then scurried away to let the bigger boys scrap it out.

Arsenal had it easy, though. Neville was even more annoying against Liverpool, where he seemed to pride himself on being the Most Hated Man in Anfield History. Every time the old rivals played each other, he'd pop up in the papers goading and taunting the Scousers in an admittedly rather admirable, yet reckless, disregard for his own life. The Kop would scream abuse at him for 90 minutes, and he'd return the favour with bells on. And he'd be even worse in the home legs.

But the truth, the awful, sickening truth, is that Neville is also one of the greatest players in the history of world football. Not technically. I don't agree with Arsene Wenger that Neville was even the best Premier League right-back ever. As Keown said last week, Lee Dixon could do everything he could but was a better positional full-back.

Total commitment

No, I mean in regard to the virtues that are so sorely missing in the modern-day game — loyalty, passion, dedication, hard work and commitment.

Neville played 602 games for United in 20 years. He never played for anyone else. He never even thought about it. And he played 85 times for England. If I'm honest, I wish we'd had some players like Gary Neville at Arsenal.

Men of steel with the team badge metaphorically tattooed on their hearts. Men who would fight to the last drop of their blood. Men who never contemplated defeat until it actually happened.