I tell you what he's far too bright for a footballer http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...ary-transfer-to-Tottenham-article696341.htmll Phil Neville hasn’t lost any sleep over the fact that he could have been playing in the Champions League this week. For the Everton captain, *thinking what would have been had *Tottenham succeeded with a ‘Deadline Day’ bid to take him to White Hart Lane would only be a waste of energy. Work, rest and play is the simple mantra by which Neville has lived his life for the past 20 years, *regardless of whether he’s *wearing the red of Manchester United, the white of England or the blue of Everton. So instead of a date with AC Milan, it is a clash with Bolton that will be on his mind. 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.” Turning to his need for sleep, Neville went on: “You can never compromise your commitment to playing football – ever. “You have to train hard and you even have to put the same focus on resting yourself and making sure you’re ready to go again. “Even sleep is a massive part of my preparation. I have to have two or three hours sleep for four or five afternoons a week. “People ask me what I am doing. But I train so hard in the morning that I have to sleep in the *afternoon to recover properly. “I go to bed for a few hours in the afternoon and then I’m tucked up again at 9pm. Half-nine at the *latest. He laughed: “It’s become a part of my family life now. I don’t put the kids to bed, they put me to bed.” Neville added: “Even when you have a day off you have got to do the right thing, look after *yourself and eat the right food. “You’ve got to live the perfect way. “It’s not just about what you do on the training pitch it’s about controlling every single aspect of your life. You can’t have any *distractions. I don’t have any spare time in my life to do anything other than to prepare myself to play football. “In fact, the older you get the *harder you have to prepare. “I can’t even afford to have a day off any more because if I take it as one day I am absolutely dead the following day.”
