mostly carraville

likes/follows from here if you have any corrections/context to add, drop by the ask box :) non-carraville posts are tagged "not carraville"

[patrice-bergerons]

Why is this their relationship in a nutshell hshshsh

[oldmanpusspuss]

I genuinely think the phrase "which could mean nothing" was the turning point for rpf winning the war on rpf. We owe everything to those 4 words 🫡

[carravillearchives]

"If Peter Crouch hadn't been a footballer, he would have been a virgin."

Gary: Join the club, Crouchy!

source: Crouch: England Fallout, Mythbusters & How To Stop Messi! (starting at 1:11:20 - 17 Jul 2026)

[carravillearchives]

source: It’s Arsenal v Man Utd at Cornhole! 😆🇺🇸 (15 Jul 2026)

[carravillearchives]

Gary Neville: from confrontational runt to national treasure

On the day his jointly owned club, Salford City, contests the second round of the FA Cup, we look back on the startling career of Valencia’s new manager

When he hung up his boots after 19 years at the heart of Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team Gary Neville was about as far away from national treasure status as it is possible to get. 

Cast as the confrontational runt of Ferguson’s “Class of ‘92” he was seen – at least outside Old Trafford – as the least talented and most pugnacious figure among a gilded generation of footballers that included David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

But fast-forward a few years and the image of the snarling full-back with wispy facial hair, ever ready to run half the length of the pitch to wind up opposition players and fans, has been turned on its head.

On Wednesday Neville was announced as the new manager at Valencia in Spain, and on Friday Salford City FC, the club he co-owns with the other members of the “Class of 92”, alongside Singaporean businessman Peter Lim, played in the second round of the FA Cup.

This is just the tip of Neville’s post-playing portfolio. His list of achievements – from widely admired TV pundit to assistant manager with England; hugely successful businessman to champion of the homeless – puts him head and shoulders above other players when it comes to carving out a meaningful, successful post-football career in the modern era.

Perhaps most remarkable of all, the man football fans the length and breadth of the country once loved to hate, is now liked – even loved – by colleagues and the footballing public.

“It is like a brand metamorphosis,” said Simon Chadwick, professor of sport business strategy at Coventry University, who will take up a new position as “Class of 92” professor of sports enterprise at Salford University in January. “Where once he might have been compared to Woolworths – pretty reliable but nothing exceptional – he is now seen as more akin to something like Harvey Nichols.”

According to Neville-watchers none of this has happened by chance. Insiders say the 40-year-old has long had a plan and works relentlessly to realise it. He gets up no later than 6am and works methodically through his tasks for the day. When he signed up as a pundit on Sky he asked for a full-size replica of the Sky Sports touchscreen installed in his house during the close season so he could practise his new craft.

The strapline on Neville’s Twitter page, where he has more than 3 million followers, is “attack the day”. And his burgeoning relationship with Singaporean businessman Lim, who has a substantial stake in Neville’s business portfolio, owns Valencia and, crucially, is closely linked to football’s super agent Jorge Mendes, could, analysts say, propel him into Europe’s footballing aristocracy.

“What is really interesting is that people actually respect him now,” says Chadwick, “seeing him not only as a good former professional but also a smart businessman and someone to admire more generally.”

The drive that has propelled Neville’s rise can be traced back to his childhood. His dad, Neville Neville, was commercial director at Bury football club: sport and business were a central part of family life as the boys grew up in Greater Manchester. Gary readily admits he was only the second best sportsman in his family, behind younger brother Phil who also went on to play for Manchester United and England. This helped instil in him a fierce work ethic and drive, to go with a sharp intelligence.

In his autobiography, Red, Neville says: “I struggled to make the county team; [Phil] played for England schoolboys at every level, going down to Wembley in his smart blazer, the cream of the crop.”

But as the brothers grew, their roles reversed. Gary’s relentless dedication has propelled him to take the lead in almost everything from the football field to business; from management to TV punditry.

Duncan Drasdo, chief executive of the Manchester United Supporters Trust, who has been watching Neville’s progress for almost three decades, is not surprised. “He is bright, determined and has always worked incredibly hard. He is a very interesting character and was always a leader in the dressing room. I was always impressed that he made the most of his talents by his drive and dedication. I think we are seeing that playing out now.”

Neville’s dedication was apparent when he arrived at Manchester United, part of an influx of young players brought in by Ferguson to tackle the club’s drinking culture. Lee Sharpe tells a story that once, heading for his car after training, he heard the repetitive thud of a ball hitting a wall. It was Neville, practising his long throw. Sharpe mocked his commitment. “As hard as he could, over and over again,” Sharpe recalls. “Practising long throws: Gary Neville’s idea of fun.”

Neville had the last laugh. As Sharpe’s career faded, Neville’s was, by any measure, a phenomenal success, playing 85 times for England, becoming the country’s most capped right-back and a certain starter in Ferguson’s teams for almost two decades.

But once he hung up his boots, Neville was unafraid to cut his formal ties to Manchester United and its dominant manager and strike out on his own.

His transformation from cartoon villain to respected national figure began when he was signed up as a TV pundit for Sky. Insiders say it was, like much else in Neville’s life, a carefully calculated decision.

“It was a conscious decision Neville and the others made to establish a brand in their post-playing careers; not as pampered millionaire ex-United footballers but as local lads done well, still connected to their youth and Manchester roots. The ‘Class of 92’ has been a very successful branding exercise, establishing perceptions about who they are,” said one Neville-watcher.

There were some raised eyebrows from those who doubted that the abrasive Neville, who had spent his entire career at Manchester United and was seen as ferociously partisan, would cut it as a pundit. But Sky’s head of football, Gary Hughes, said they had had an eye on the outspoken full-back for a while. “We identified that when he spoke in any press conference with Manchester United or England he spoke with great passion. He always told you how it was and that is exactly what we want from our pundits.”

Neville, always the informal shop steward at Manchester United, strives to remain grounded. In a recent interview he dismissed the idea that being a TV pundit was a pressurised job. “Pressure isn’t what I am doing at the moment – talking about football on television. I wouldn’t even begin to think that is pressure. Pressure is not knowing where your next wage is going to come from, how you are going to feed your family, feed your kids. That’s pressure. That horrible feeling you don’t know how you are going to get your kids Christmas presents. I don’t like the fact you can walk through Manchester and see people sleeping on the streets, people who are struggling.”

That sentiment was put into practice two months ago when one of his luxury developments in central Manchester was occupied by a group of homeless people. Instead of trying to evict them Neville and Giggs agreed to let them stay – if only for few months.

On Friday, Neville was wearing yet another hat. The team he bought 18 months ago with the others from the “Class of 92” ran out in the second round of the FA cup. Although ownership of Salford City is a joint venture, Giggs again admits Neville was the driving force. “As with most of the ideas we’re involved with,” said Giggs, “it comes from Gary.”

But an increasingly important figure in all Neville’s ventures is Lim. He met Neville and other young Manchester United stars through the Red Cafe franchise, in the far east in the early 2000s.

Lim owns Neville’s new club, Valencia, has a 50% stake in Salford City and is a major investor in Neville and Giggs’s hotel and property projects. Crucially he is also a friend of Mendes, the agent to many of Europe’s most coveted players, including Cristiano Ronaldo.

Chadwick says the relationship with Lim could be a game-changer, propelling Neville into world football’s premier league, with rumours that the pair are planning to expand their business empire internationally. “It is arguably unprecedented,” said Chadwick. “What you are getting is not just a guy who is beginning to diversify; you are getting the conglomeration of Gary Neville – Neville the coach, Neville the hotel owner, Neville the local philanthropist.”

Back in Manchester, Drasdo says Neville’s meteoric rise has created a buzz among fans of the red half of the city, who hope he may be part of a future “fan friendly” takeover of Manchester United. Others suggest Neville is on course to be the manager at the club or even England.

But first he will have to prove that he can cut it away from the Sky studio. Managing Valencia, with his brother Phil as his assistant, will – as he admits – be one of his toughest challenges. But those who know him say, whatever the end result, one thing is sure: Neville will relish it.

Gary Neville: fact file

Career He joined Manchester United straight out of school in 1991. As a leading figure in a crop of talented young players, he captained the team that won the 1992 FA youth cup. In 1997 Neville scored his first goal for the senior side. He became captain in 2005 and over the course of almost two decades appeared 602 times for the club. He won a plethora of trophies, including the Premier League eight times, and boasts 85 caps for England. In 2011 he hung up his boots and became a commentator for Sky Sports. In 2013 he launched a hospitality company with Ryan Giggs.

High Point In the 1998-99 season Manchester United became the first side in English football to win the treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Uefa Champions League. Neville played 54 games for United – his highest total in a single season – and scored one of the seven goals of his career.

Low Point In January 2006 Neville ran 60 yards across the pitch to perform a fist pumping celebration in front of Liverpool fans after a last-minute goal by team-mate Rio Ferdinand. He was charged with improper conduct and fined £5,000 by the FA.

They say “As a young boy he had the will and determination to succeed as a footballer and that character remained with him throughout his career. That’s the legacy he leaves every young player at Manchester United,” said Sir Alex Ferguson.

He says After he was charged with improper conduct: “You are caught up in the moment and for a few seconds you can go bananas. What are you meant to do? Smile sweetly and jog back to the halfway line? … Increasingly people seem to want their footballers to be whiter than white and there are calls for sanctions over every little incident. Do they want a game of robots?” By Matthew Taylor. Additional reporting by Francis Churchill. 

source (04 Dec 2015)

[tattoos-are-my-weakness]

[blindbatalex]

carraville as a concept really is brought to us by the power of friendship, second chances, finding a soulmate in unlikely places, and, men not knowing about bisexuality

[private-witt]

[carravillearchives]

#the classic jamie carragher move#flirting with your former enemies for the bit (@lensinski)

[k-ky]

sometimes i lie wide awake at night knowing Jamie Carragher is canon in the Ted Lasso universe and remembers Roy Kent's favorite flowers were white orchids and sent them to Roy the moment Roy joins Sky despite being bitter rivals. As per here on this post.

[carravillearchives]

[k-ky]

classical music in the background for my creative endeavors

my art:

[antspaul]

watching footage from the 2002 world cup where gary did some guest punditry because he was out injured with a broken foot. the foot he broke was his left and they put him at the end of the semi-circle of pundits. so when you look at him its like

whys he just got socks on

[thefutureduchessmarie]

the ghosts of you and me by @blindbatalex​ 

An untimely blizzard forces Jamie’s hand to do the one thing he never thought he would again: spend the night at Gary’s place.

He can still barely feel his toes, and when he steps out of his shoes his wet socks leave marks on Gary’s floor. “Right,” Gary says, polite and business like, as he carefully hangs the keys on their hook by the door. “I can take your coat and I imagine you fancy a shower.” He takes Jamie’s coat and disappears upstairs with a speed that would have made Sir Alex proud in their playing days.

                                     BEA’s FIC RECS

[patrice-bergerons]

Hehe I would love a director commentary on The Ghost of You and Me :))) my carraville fic of all time

Director's commentary: come into my ask box and ask for the “director’s commentary” on a particular story, section of a story, or set of lines.  Or, send in a ⭐star⭐  to have me select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

Aaaaa thank you so much kakey! I posted the ghosts of you and me in August 2020 and even though I am aware of some of its technical flaws and even though it's been 4.5 years since then in which time I have written many other stories I am fond of, it remains still the favourite thing I have written. To the point that if someone was only going to read one story by me, or my fics were going to get destroyed and I could only save one, it would be that one. So it means a whole lot to me that it's a fave of yours too :') This got long so under the rest under the cut-

To offer actual commentary, a little known fact is that to me ghosts is a part of a duo, with my willypasta fic, between your love and mine, its spiritual companion. While they are for two very different ships in two different fandoms, they both explore the damage wrought by not only homophobia but being forced to choose between two warring parts of your identity and being told they must always be at odds, that one negates the other.

In between your love and mine, that pressure and danger is acute: you have two young men who are told they must choose between hockey and one another, whose wings are clipped before they can learn how to fly. Ghosts then is the flip side of that coin: Carra and Gary are both retired. Gary has been quasi-out within his own circles for years, and there is very little actual risk from them pursuing a relationship now. And yet part of the reason why they crash and burn so spectacularly the first time around is because they too have been mangled by the same pressure and forced choice in all the time they were playing, and just because the actual danger goes away does not mean its effects do too.

I have personally always felt this same tension and choice between on one hand being queer and on the other Turkish, where both sides seem to say: choose. And ultimately that's what both stories are - an exploration of that, refracted through a prism of hockey and football, and probably why they are so dear to me.

In that way the Leonard Cohen lyrics I used for between your love and mine apply equally to both stories: I wish there was a treaty we could sign. It’s over now, the water and the wine. We were broken then, but now we are borderline. And I wish there was a treaty; I wish there was a treaty, between your love and mine.

Finally, re ghosts, I do think about your point that making gnev the Gay One TM is not the most sensible trend fandom follows, and what the story may have looked like, were their roles switched - because I think you are onto something.

[player1064]

ok first of all love your stuff second of all gary getting all flustered about freddie flintoff in 'it's just not what's done' is one of my favourite things in any fic and i would adore it if you wrote anything more involving gary getting flustered about the big handsome cricket man if you ever got the chance

I! LOVE! GARY GETTING FLUSTERED OVER BIG HANDOME CRICKET MAN FREDDIE FLINTOFF!!!! his poor gay nerves can't handle it........ can you IMAGINE if beautiful twink (~96-99) Gary had met him I think he would probably have died.

ANYWAY this lil drabble is set in the same fic universe as 'it's just not what's done' just bc I like writing openly gay but still hopeless with men Gary... and him and Carra still fighting the inevitable friendship that is coming for them...

---

The first planning session each Monday is more of a ‘sit in a conference room eating breakfast and chatting about the weekend’s games’ than it is a serious broadcasting meeting. It’s an almost nice start to a long day of meetings and rehearsals and shooting.

When they call time the producers all scuttle off to go spin their idle chit-chat into an hour’s worth of television, and the ‘talent’ (or whatever Carragher’s classed as) have a couple of hours to kill before the next meeting.

Gary, of course, usually spends it working. He’s no idea what Carragher does, only that he leaves their dressing room blissfully undisturbed for the full two hours, which is all he really needs to know.

Except, today Carragher pauses on his way out and says “thought I might try out one of them classes they have at the gym, fancy joining?”

Gary looks around the (now empty) room for who he could possibly be talking to, because there’s no way it’s him. He scoffs. “Do I look like I go to the gym, Carragher?”

“You look like you should,” Carragher replies, and so now Gary has no choice but to go just to prove him wrong.

He changes into baggy shorts and a t-shirt that’s tighter than he remembers it being when he bought it, and follows Carragher into the fitness studio part of the on campus gym.

And immediately walks back out when he sees which of his other esteemed colleagues have decided to spend their Monday mornings doing fucking yoga, of all things.

“Carra!” he hears a cockney accent greet as he starts to speed walk away, “and was that Gary I saw with you a second ago – oi, Nev! D’you forget something, I think we’re meant to be starting soon.”

Gary reluctantly turns back around and pastes on a smile, tugging self-consciously at the hem of his shirt. “Alright, Jamie?” he says with a nod, then turns to look at the man beside him and manages to get out a  single-syllable greeting of “Fred” without incident.

Carragher looks at him curiously, and he feels his stupid face heat up under the scrutiny.

“Just going to – just gonna head to my mat, then,” he says to a point on the wall behind Jamie and Freddie, and he hurries over to the furthest corner of the room possible.

Annoyingly, Carragher follows him.

“That was weird,” he says, voice hushed while the teacher walks up to the front and starts the introductions. “You’re weird, d’you know that?”

Gary tries to pay attention to what’s being said up front, but can’t help but frown and reply “dunno what you’re talkin’ about.”

Carragher leaves it, but a few minutes into the class the other Jamie and Freddie drag their mats closer and start up a continual stream of chatter that’s hard to ignore.

At one point, the teacher looks over to their corner and shushes them so harshly that Gary loses his concentration and stumbles a bit. He braces himself for a fall that doesn’t come, because there’s suddenly a warm hand on his elbow and – and, actually, maybe the fall would’ve been better.  Less embarrassing, surely, than having to look up at Freddie fucking Flintoff and mumble a thanks, and then turning away just a fraction too quickly and stumbling again, this time right into the poor man’s bare chest, because of fucking course he has taken his fucking shirt off for a fucking yoga class, why the fuck wouldn’t he?

He's just about ready to melt into the floor in a puddle of shame when the teacher points at them and says “you four, out!”, and he and Carragher are ushered out of the room by a giggling Jamie and Freddie.

“Didn’t yous say in your autobiography, Neville, that you got kicked out of yoga in playing days?” Carragher asks blithely.

Freddie is still stood close enough to Gary that he can feel his body heat, so with effort he manages to quite admirably reply with a hum and a shrug.

“Christ, if I’d known yoga w’you two idiots was all it took to get ‘im to shut up I’d’ve done it a year ago,” teases Carragher

Jamie reaches an arm out to ruffle Gary’s hair. “Aw, poor Nev’s got a little crush on me, don’t he? Can’t ever keep his head on around all this perfection.”

If he hadn’t played for Liverpool, Gary would be tempted to call Jamie Redknapp a good friend. Carragher and Freddie both scoff and start teasing Jamie and his vanity, and Gary’s able to regain enough composure to take a step away from Freddie and join in.

“Not if you were the last man on earth, Redknapp,” he says, then internally cringes at how his voice comes out just a little too loud.

Freddie laughs, elbows Jamie in the side. “Think you’re the one wit’ crush, Jamie,” he says, glancing over to Gary and Carragher with a wink. “Every time we see ‘im it’s ‘ooh, Gary, tell me I’m pretty’, ‘Gary, look, my biceps are bigger’n Fred’s’ – which is bullshit, just by the way – ‘Gary, stop starin’ at Fred and come pay attention to me’.”

Carragher looks between Freddie and Jamie, then turns to Gary with a squint. Gary prays to whatever god might be listening for him not to open that big ugly Scouse mouth of his.

No such luck.

“The two a’yous do realise who you’re squabblin’ over, right? Gary Neville, Christ, ‘ave some self-respect. He’s not even the best lookin’ footballer in his own family.”

[carravillearchives]

ao3 link (complete)

[theloneamaryllis]

why are they like this

[carravillearchives]

#i'm dyin#GARY ALEXANDER NEVILLE#carra is always so obvious in his affections 'love interest' etc#gary does shit like this like if he masks it in football talk it's just shop talk#you know carra was the smuggest asshole ever after he saw this#they're exactly the kind of people to be like 'you like me? haha how embarrassing' 'we're shagging. right this second.' 'but still'#MY EMBARRASSING ENGLISH DADS AND THEIR RIDICULOUS SOCIAL MEDIA FLIRTING#cw: rpf#carraville#*facepalm* (@kaci3po)

source (20 Dec 2016)

[thesecretdetectivecollection]

Director's commentary for "A little foolishness and a lot of curiosity" and/or "watching water make love to the land" please? Sorry for being greedy but I'm still hyper from lfc becoming champions and I LOVE your writing!

Oohh first of all, this isn’t greed! You’re spoiling me here!!

It’s interesting that you pick these two fics because they’re so very different from each other!

A little bit of a foolishness and a lot of curiosity (link here) is about being young and reckless and not quite figuring out your feelings or your body quite yet, and the romance comes after. We see the stages of Stevie thinking oh, is Carra having a wank??? to oh, my body actually likes that?? to oh wow, I’m in love with him. 

We see Carra having a related experience, albeit one we don’t fully see, since we’re limited to Stevie’s perspective. Jamie’s able to understand that Stevie’s young, that he might be someone who jumps the gun a little bit and says I love you too soon, and so he wants to push back, wants to encourage Stevie’s exploration of his own sexuality, but in a way that doesn’t lead to them overhyping the relationship as love when it might not be. 

Part of that is also Jamie’s desire to protect himself--what if he likes Stevie, but Stevie realizes afterwards that he doesn’t like Jamie as an individual, but only as the man who helped him realize that he was attracted to men as well as women?

This desire to protect himself leads him to avoid things like kissing, maybe even provokes him into promiscuous behavior with other people (i.e. Michael in the fic), to remind himself that what he has with Stevie is just a ‘friends with benefits’ type of situation. 

However, Carra also has a lot of genuine affection for Stevie, so when he suspects that maybe he’s in a relationship with an older, more experienced man (Redders) because of the same easy physicality that he himself had shared with Stevie earlier, that sets off alarm bells. He’s actually trying to help when he tells Stevie that Redders is too old for him, but there is an element of jealousy there, too. 

When they’re each struggling, they realize how much they need each other just as friends, and being hurt and at odds because of their romantic relationship deteriorating has cost them the possibly more important platonic relationship that they both valued. This is why, when they are able to rekindle that friendship, it is a huge step, and Stevie tries to convince himself that it’s enough. 

Take this lines, when they’re back to being friends and inching towards more. 

“I just—if it was anybody else, I would have talked to you about it,” Stevie mutters miserably, “but I couldn’t tell anybody!”

“My brave boy,” Jamie whispers, “dealing with heartbreak all on your own. My poor boy, not even getting to cry when you were hurting. You wonderful, brave boy.”

“Just wanted you. Just wanted you there—“

At this point, we see a reversal from Stevie chasing the feeling of maturity by being maybe overly sexual in his desires--a lot of the initial framing of the story is about sex, and how feelings of sexual attraction helped Stevie clear up who he was attracted to. Now that that part is over with, and Stevie has largely accepted that he’s attracted to Jamie, they’re able to chase the more innocent aspects of a relationship--sleeping in a bed together, holding hands, hugging each other, going on dates to the cinema or out for dinner, kissing. 

Where before there was a fervor to their relationship, a sense of urgency, sort of feverishness, it calms down from here. They hold hands. They kiss during the commercial breaks while watching television, and cuddle. The kisses are more mature in a sense, in that they’re not tentative, not chaste, exactly, but they’re not as hungry. There’s a sense of contentment there, as if they’re glad to savor each other, but are still secure enough not to feel like they’re going to be ripped apart any minute. 

At the end, there are two sort of postscripts. In the first, a year later, Jamie admits that he loves Stevie. This is vital, because otherwise, we’d be left with the feeling that Stevie cares more, which is just not true. In the second, they move in together, and the fic ends with that, with a quiet domesticity, both characters more mature as individuals and in their relationship than at the beginning. 

This was largely inspired by a Star Trek fic where Kirk and Bones share a room and hear each other touching themselves at night. However, the trajectory of the stories is quite different, as the Star Trek one involves coping with trauma and feelings of insecurity in two adults, whereas foolishness and curiosity deals with young men, just on the cusp of adulthood, trying to navigate their relationship as it shifts from platonic to sexual to platonic to romantic.