Phil Neville on why he never moved to Spurs

Everton skipper Phil Neville’s principles stopped him from pursuing a move to Tottenham when manager Harry Redknapp came in for him in the January transfer window.

Neville said: “The Tottenham thing didn’t get close because Everton said ‘no’ and I respected that decision.

“It was an unbelievable honour to be wanted by [manager] Harry Redknapp and a club like ­Tottenham, but it was also an ­unbelievable honour that David Moyes [the Everton boss] was never going to let me go.

“I could have kicked off about it – and many players would have – but that’s not my style.

“I have principles – I have had them throughout my career – and loyalty is perhaps the biggest of those principles.

“I know that other players would have put in a transfer request or thrown their toys out of their pram, but that was never going to happen with me.

“You can call it naïve. I’d like to think I am clever and sensible because putting in transfer ­requests, demanding this and that, only works short-term.

“Long term, I like to think that you get your rewards if you stick by good principles.”

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