Former England captain David Beckham has revealed that Gary Neville and a number of Manchester United players did not like their Liverpool counterparts during their time together on international duty.
Beckham was a part of a Three Lions squad which was dominated by players from United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal and filled with stars who had won multiple trophies at club level. But the 'Golden Generation' of England players failed to secure a World Cup or European Championship, often failing at the first stage of the knockouts.
While much of the debate at the time was working out why Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Liverpool's Steven Gerrard could not play together, there were plenty of discussion about whether the players got along due to the fierce battles United and Liverpool had in the Premier League.
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Though Beckham said that he had no problem passing to Gerrard if he was in a better position and denied the accusations that there were cliques, he did say that the United boys did not like the Liverpool players. Speaking to United and England team-mate Neville for his Sky Sports Overlap podcast, Beckham said: "I've heard numerous people come out and say: Well, you know, there was cliques. Some players didn't talk to other players.'
"I don't care whether players talk to each other whilst they're eating dinner, whilst they're eating lunch, whilst they're in the change room. The moment you get on that pitch, you don't care whether Stevie G [Gerrard] is in a better position than me, I'm gonna give him the ball, simple as that.
"You're footballers and you're a professional. It's not about cliques. It's not about Liverpool players not liking United," to which Neville replies: "We didn't though did we?"
Beckham adds: "You definitely didn't. I thought they were alright personally. I was in the middle, I was Switzerland."
