Neville fears never winning another title

Manchester United skipper Gary Neville has claimed he would regard the end of his career as a “failure” if the Red Devils failed to add another Premiership title to their collection.

Neville lifted his first trophy as captain on Sunday when he led United to a Carling Cup final hammering of Wigan at the Millennium Stadium, ending a trophy drought stretching back almost two years to the 2004 FA Cup win over Millwall.

In his pre and post-match observations, the 31-year-old has been keen to play up the importance of the League Cup, especially as the victory allowed him to complete his own domestic medal collection.

But Neville accepts the competition is last on United’s list of priorities and it is their performances in the Premiership and Champions League upon which the club will be judged.

Certainly in Europe this season, the Red Devils were poor and were eliminated before Christmas for the first time in a decade.

And, while second place is still up for grabs in the league, a deficit of 15 points on current leaders Chelsea renders talk of a title charge meaningless.

Providing Jose Mourinho’s side do not suffer a calamitous loss of form over their remaining 11 games, United will have gone three seasons without winning the championship once the season reaches its conclusion.

And Neville is anxious it does not become the start of a worrying run which brings back unhappy memories of the 26 years between 1967 and 1993 during which time England’s best-supported club failed to finish top of the pile.

“If I stay here for three, four or five more years and United did not win more leagues, I would definitely have to say that the end of my career was a failure,” he told the club’s official magazine, United.

“This club has got to win trophies and I would be seriously disappointed if we weren’t to add more league medals to our collections. I would feel that I had not quite achieved everything I want to in my career.”

The statement emphasises the hunger of a player who won his 11th major medal on Sunday and whose dedication to the United cause landed him with a £5,000 (€7,400) fine from the Football Association over his celebration of Rio Ferdinand’s last-minute goal in the recent Premiership win over Liverpool, a punishment he has vowed to appeal against.

Yet Neville is not alone in demanding high standards. The England defender’s sentiments were echoed by long-standing team-mate Ryan Giggs, who is now just two trophies short of equalling Phil Neal’s record of 17 major honours.

At 32, Giggs has limited time available to achieve such a distinction. But, having been part of all eight previous title successes under Alex Ferguson, the Welsh international feels the potential is there to achieve more.

“We have the talent in the dressing room, as we have shown in spurts this season,” he said.

“Where we have won championships in the past is through consistency and we have just not had that.

“You have to be optimistic though when you have got the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney at the club; they are such talented individuals. Hopefully, over the next three or four years we will win another title.

“You know we are going to be challenging. It’s just a case of taking the next step and winning it again.”

Meanwhile, United have lined up Barcelona to play in a prestigious friendly to mark the grand opening of the expanded Old Trafford.

Although the new quadrants – which will extend the ground capacity to 76,000 - will be open before the current season is over, the Red Devils wanted a big name to officially open the stadium and Barca have agreed in principle.

However, there are still some obstacles to overcome before Ronaldinho’s appearance against the club who were so desperate to sign him is confirmed, not least United’s need to avoid finishing outside the top two, which would plunge them into a Champions League qualifier for the third season on the trot.