My wife stayed outside in the car, because the kids were asleep. I went in there a little bit nervous but I came out feeling on top of the world, even though I was leaving the club I'd always played for. But when he told me that at the start of the summer, from then on I was thinking about Everton Ask my wife. We were on holiday in Barbados and I said to her, 'I think I need a change'. They've been behind me from the moment I arrived here.' His arrival cost Everton £3.5m, one of the better bits of business in the summer transfer market. The cogs were set in motion when Moyes met Neville Neville at a function, and said that if his younger son was thinking of leaving Old Trafford, he would love him to head westbound along the M62."My dad said, 'He's a Man United player You'll have to speak to Alex Ferguson'. Then Scholesy shouted 'smile' and after that I couldn't stop laughing, It broke the tension."The United fans were great.

They gave me a right good reception, although I don't think I've ever given them a reason not to And the Everton fans were great as well They were the ones who started chanting my name. I said hello to the kit men, because you always get close to the kit men at clubs, but that was it. And in the tunnel I was just focusing, but I could feel these eyes next to me, Giggsy just staring at me. But I had this premeditated thing that I didn't want to make the occasion about me, I wasn't going to go round shaking everyone's hand, because there's nothing worse than when old players come back and they're always in your face.

After all, he played 386 times for United, was a member of the fabled 1992-3 youth team, and first went to Old Trafford as a nipper:Mike Duxbury belting down the wing against Aston Villa is his earliest memory."Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous at all beforehand, I was just so excited It's such a great place to play football. I suppose the perfect scenario for them would have been United winning 2-1 and me scoring for Everton."Before the season began it was the one fixture he thought he might feel apprehensive about. "We've played United twice now and they can't enjoy it, seeing their sons on opposite sides. He'd kicked the ball at me in the first half."Somebody was down injured and the ball had gone out of play. Suddenly it smacked past me and when I looked round he was walking away pretending it wasn't him. I said, 'Gaz, what did you kick the ball at me for?' He said, 'You've been there, Phil.

You come to Old Trafford, you go over to your manager, you're drinking your drink, swanning around. I thought, I'm not having that.' So he smacked the ball at me. My mum and dad were laughing their heads off." Up in the South Stand, it was a welcome note of levity."It was a difficult day for them, with my wife and kids all in Everton shirts," Neville adds. It is the day before Everton's home defeat by West Ham and, if the top four or five seem a little distant, there is still a palpable feeling of elation following the performance against United. But for Gary it could hardly have started less auspiciously."Yeah, he was really disappointed I shook his hand and said 'well done' and that was it We're not ones for giving each other hugs and kisses anyway I phoned him later that night. So for the Neville brothers, the week has been one of contrasting fortunes.