Neville cringes at being reminded he's donned his shirt 600 times
Everton captain has had enough of praise for his milestone appearance
London: The plaudits of the previous week left him squirming with embarrassment, but there was still no sparing Phil Neville's blushes after he registered his 600th appearance at club level.
Effusive praise was hardly a feature of his Manchester United and England career, but it seems he would have it no other way, judging by a response to all the sudden recognition for his captaincy qualities at Everton.
Rival bosses Harry Redknapp and David Moyes led the acclaim for a masterly containing job on in-form Gareth Bale at Tottenham but were scarcely thanked for their troubles.
"I was cringing with the coverage last Sunday," admitted the 33-year old.
"I was totally embarrassed by it, so I stopped reading the papers and turned the television off."
Moyes was not about to make the same mistake again, prudently selecting ‘steady' as his description of choice for Neville's milestone performance against Stoke and adding: "I'd better not say too much, because he's getting annoyed about it. He's getting too much praise and is not used to it."
Glowing appraisal
Tim Howard had no such reservations, though, as he risked the wrath of his one-time United teammate with a glowing appraisal of the influence exerted on Everton's recent upturn in fortunes.
"There's a big trust factor between Phil and the rest of the guys," said the Everton keeper.
