Gary Neville admits he 'didn't like it' when Man Utd team-mate forced transfer to Everton against Alex Ferguson's wishes

Gary Neville has admitted that when brother Phil Neville left Manchester United to join Everton in 2005 that he ‘respected it’ but that he also ‘didn’t like it.

Phil Neville left the Red Devils in 2005 to join Everton in a transfer costing £3.5m, he'd go on to make 242 appearances for the Toffees from 2005-2013, establishing himself as a key player and being named club captain by David Moyes.

Speaking on The Overlap about his brother's departure from Old Trafford, Neville said: ‘Everyone else was relieved! No, I remember it was like when Becs [David Beckham] and [Nicky] Butt left – it was bad each time because we’d been together for ten years.

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“I went around to the bosses’ house [Sir Alex Ferguson] with Phil, to see him on a Sunday night – Phil was dreading this meeting

"Phil wanted to go, he was in a role where he was playing 25/30 games a season, but he felt that no matter how well he played, when the big game came along, he might miss out and someone would come back in. He felt like he wasn’t going to be the number one, and he’d done that for seven or eight years and in the end, he just wanted to be the number one, to play every single week."

United boss Ferguson was desperate for the younger Neville to stay put but Phil would hold his ground and force the move - and Gary admitted it was a "horrible" feeling seeing his brother depart.

He said: "David Moyes had come in for him and the manager said, “No, I want you to stay and carry on doing what you’re doing,” and he said to the boss, “No, I need to play every week and feel like I’m on the team sheet’

"I respected