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Former Manchester United star Gary Neville has revealed that he ‘thought he was going to die’ after having his drink spiked whilst enjoying a night out as a player. The ex-England international has spoken out about how he spent one Christmas in a hospital ward as a teenager.
Neville broke into the United first team just months after his 19th birthday before gradually being granted more opportunities by Sir Alex Ferguson. The defender then quickly asserted himself as first-team right-back at the club in 1994 after an injury to Paul Parker forced a defensive shakeup.
The ex-Valencia boss soon rose through the ranks and became an influential figure at the club, with his partnership with Beckham down the right proving to be an unstoppable force. The pair came through the academy together and became good friends, and Neville was thankful for his teammate on a night out when he was a teenager.
The now-pundit has revealed that he was hospitalised for Christmas when he was 18 after being spiked on a night out when trying to enjoy the festivities. He told the Stick to Football podcast: “I ended up in hospital one Christmas, I thought I was going to die.
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“Someone spiked my drink; I don’t know what with, but it was bad. I was with David Beckham and Ben Thornley put me in a taxi and he sent me home, but I said to the taxi driver to take me to the hospital.
“I got to the hospital, and it was quite busy, and I ended up falling asleep on the deck, and I remember one of the nurses coming over to me asking if it was just drink, which I said it was, and only then I realised that I could have been spiked.
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“I ended up sleeping at the hospital, waking up about two hours later and you didn’t have mobile phones back then and I was 18, so I ended up using the hospital phone to ring up my girlfriend to come and pick me up. I remember she picked me up and I was sat in a wheelchair at the front of the hospital, and she came to pick me up and take me home.”
Neville will be hoping to enjoy a drama-free Christmas this year, and victories for United over West Ham and Aston Villa over the coming days could be the cherry on top of the cake for the 48-year-old.
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