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Gary Neville says Newcastle are one of the three Premier League clubs he would have wanted to play for if Sir Alex Ferguson had told him his time at Manchester United were up.

In a Skype chat with Geoff Shreeves for Sky Sports for the Off Script podcast, Neville listed three sides he would never have turned out for.

But then went on to say that Newcastle were one of just three domestic teams he would have wanted to play for because they are a “proper club” with tradition.

The always engaging Neville explained: “I’m fortunate in the sense that because I signed a five-year deal at 29 – it ran out at 34 – I’d made the decision that if Sir Alex had come up to me at the end of that contract and said ‘Your time is up’ I was never going to go and play for another club. I only wanted Manchester United next to my name.

“However, if he’d have come to me at the age of 28 and said ‘Gary, your time is up’ of course I would have played for another Premier League club. I would have had to have done because I was a football player.

“I would never have played for City or Liverpool or Leeds United in a million years. I don’t criticise or feel anything bad for players who did do that. Me personally I never could have played for those three clubs. Not because they’re not great clubs in their own right and they don’t have great fanbases, just the rivalry is too much. The feeling is too much.

“It’s hypothetical. They never would have approached me because they’d have realised it would have been too controversial a move and secondly I would never have gone to play for them.”

In terms of clubs he would have signed for, Newcastle were one of only three he picked out.

He said: “If Sir Alex had said at 28 I had to go, I’d have said Newcastle, Arsenal and Aston Villa were the three clubs would be the ones (I’d have gone to).

“If you’d said to me in a perfect world in my years of playing in the Premier League, which clubs did I think were proper clubs and had a bit of tradition?

“Arsenal would be number one in terms of you used to go to Highbury and you felt the tradition of it and they always did things the right way.

“The clubs in Europe I always admired were Juventus and Bayern Munich because we played against them a lot in the late 90s and 2000s. I just respected them as football clubs in terms of the teams they had and Bayern were just meticulous.

“In the Premier League it would be Arsenal – not that they would ever want me. I also like Aston Villa. Newcastle are another club (I’d have played for).”

Neville was part of the Red Devils side that edged out Kevin Keegan’s Entertainers for the league title, and was part of the team of the decade which was a thorn in the side for the Magpies throughout that decade and the early 2000s.