Sven Goran Eriksson has called Gary Neville a 'professional moaner' and that he had to be warned by David Beckham what to expect from the former full-back shortly after becoming England manager.
Eriksson was appointed as England boss in 2001 during a period when Neville and Beckham were international team-mates as well as Manchester United stars having come through the fabled 'class of 92.'
But while Neville was one of the stand-out full-backs of his generation, winning 85 caps between 1995 and 2007, his perceived negativity is remembered with light fondness by his former international boss.
'Gary Neville is a professional moaner in everything,' Eriksson told the Italian Football Podcast.
'Beckham told me during one of the first England training sessions, "Boss, don’t listen to him. He was born like that and he’ll die like that. But he’s a good man and he doesn’t really mean what he says.”'
Since retiring from playing in 2011, Neville has since gone on to become one of the leading sports pundits, with Eriksson praising the 46-year-old's approach.
'Neville is very professional in what he is doing,' Eriksson added. 'But he has to say his opinion always, especially if it is something negative but he was always very, very much respective of his team-mates and everybody knew how he was and nobody listened to him.'
Eriksson regularly stuck with Neville as his first choice right-back, choosing him for Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.
The former United star would have been Eriksson's first pick at the 2002 World Cup also, with only injury ruling him out of the tournament in Japan and South Korea.
Neville has become a household name in punditry and his friendly rivalry with Sky Sports colleague Jamie Carragher is often played out on screen and on social media.
Carragher hilariously mocked Neville after he posted a picture of himself laughing at Liverpool before they staged a second-half comeback to beat AC Milan on Wednesday.
Neville made the same error on Tuesday night by posting a sarcastic video of himself laughing, accompanied by a goat emoji after Cristiano Ronaldo scored Manchester United's opener against Young Boys.
The post appeared to be a dig at his Monday Night Football partner Carragher, who had argued with Neville that Lionel Messi was the world's best instead of Ronaldo.
However, Neville was left with egg on his face when Young Boys battled back to claim a shock victory over United - and Carragher couldn't resist taunting him by posting a picture of the former defender with his hands over his face and setting it as his new Twitter profile.
Neville clearly didn't learn his lesson and fell victim to the same trap again on Wednesday night after AC Milan went into the break at Anfield 2-1 ahead.
The ex-United man posted two selfies of him looking shocked and laughing on social media, but was left red-faced again when goals from Mo Salah and Jordan Henderson sealed a 3-2 comeback victory for Jurgen Klopp's side.
Carragher, predictably, was quick to poke fun at Neville's expense, putting a hilarious filter over his face and writing: '@GNev2 as that goal went in,' accompanied by laughing emojis.