{"id":245190,"date":"2025-11-05T11:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T11:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/245190\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T11:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T11:26:13","slug":"bazball-reminds-me-of-sir-alex-fergusons-style-says-gary-neville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/245190\/","title":{"rendered":"Bazball reminds me of Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s style, says Gary Neville"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gary Neville<\/a> has compared the current England cricket<\/a> team and their Bazball style of play, to legendary Manchester United<\/a> manager Sir Alex Ferguson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bazball \u2013 instituted by and named after<\/a> swashbuckling England coach Brendon McCullum<\/a> \u2013 is about removing fear and playing with freedom<\/a>, going against the more structured, traditional approach to Test cricket.<\/p>\n

The tactic has seen some success, although it has also faced plenty of criticism<\/a> for being recklessly gung-ho, and this winter\u2019s Ashes<\/a> tour to Australia will be an interesting litmus test.<\/p>\n

And Neville, who was a talented cricketer in his youth before focussing on football, says the principles remind him of how Ferguson got his players to approach matches during Man United\u2019s dominant era in the 1990s and 2000s.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Overlap and Betfair\u2019s<\/a> Stick to Cricket show, Neville said: \u201cI like disruption, I like people who are brave, I like those types of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cBazball reminds me a little bit of Sir Alex in terms of how he would approach a football match, throw the kitchen sink at it, expression, freedom, but you have to win. That\u2019s the catch. You have to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chatting with Stick to Cricket hosts Michael Vaughan<\/a>, Sir Alastair Cook, David \u2018Bumble\u2019 Lloyd and Phil Tufnell, ex-right back Neville also detailed what made Ferguson such an effective man-manager, even if that created certain challenges for his players.<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Gary Neville joined the Stick to Cricket crew (The Overlap \/ Stick to Cricket)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou fell out with Sir Alex Ferguson momentarily,\u201d explained Neville. \u201cWell, not fall out with him, but he would rip you to shreds at a certain moment in the season, there\u2019d be times where he\u2019d rip you to shreds two or three times. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was usually in big matches, you know, anything that was a mistake or lack of concentration. He used to hate lack of concentration. He would fall out with you momentarily, but he\u2019d pick it up quite quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he simplified everything to a point whereby, do you know when your manager gives you the comfort that, \u2018don\u2019t worry, you are talented because I\u2019ve picked you\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that idea that you went out there believing in yourself and you were confident all the time and that you had to win. We knew we had to win, and it simplified everything \u2013 I don\u2019t think management is like that now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Neville<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Neville revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson stopped him playing cricket (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Neville actually played alongside future England captain Vaughan at the Bunbury Cricket Festival for Lancashire\u2019s under-14 team, while he also had an unbroken partnership of 236 with future Australian international Matthew Hayden for Greenmount Cricket Club in a Hamer Cup tie against Astley Bridge in 1992.<\/p>\n

But he revealed that once Ferguson found out about his cricketing exploits, the Scot immediately put a stop to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 16 and joined United, in the summer I carried on playing cricket,\u201d said Neville. \u201cI Just didn\u2019t think anything of it, you just played cricket in the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen a picture went in the local paper, it made its way into the Manchester Evening News. I\u2019d made my debut for United at that time, and I remember Sir Alex Ferguson calling me and saying, \u2018You can\u2019t play cricket. What are you doing for insurance purposes?\u2019 So, literally, that stopped me, and that was my last ever game of cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Neville<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Neville won a boatload of trophies with Man United during his career (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

But he believes his forays into the sport provided him with a crucial skill for his football career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people say what toughened me up most, it was cricket,\u201d insisted Neville. \u201cBecause I remember playing for the first team when I was 13, 14, and there were some pros that were like, Wendell Coppin [Barbadian professional] playing and he was quick.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was skidding them halfway down up around your head and you know something, it wasn\u2019t for me that. At 14… Honestly, you\u2019re there and you\u2019re thinking, \u2018this is not right… \u2018And I was like, \u2018woah\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-245190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}