Phil Neville says sacking of 'friend' Moyes 'one of toughest days in football'

Manchester United's first-team coach Phil Neville has revealed that see the sacking of former manager David Moyes, whom he described as a 'friend', was 'probably one of the toughest days that he have had in football'.

Neville, who survived the cull of Moyes' assistants, was signed as a player by the Scot for Everton in 2005 from United, where he had progressed from the youth ranks to the first-team, and Moyes also wanted Neville to join him on the coaching staff at Goodison Park.

According to The Guardian, Neville admitted that it had been a 'real' difficult season for the club, which should have been challenging for league titles instead of finishing a lowly sixth or seventh, adding that to see a man like Moyes, who had faith in him for nine years, lose his job may have been one of the 'toughest days of his life'.

Neville, who has never been at a club where the manager has been sacked, said that as Sir Alex Ferguson and Moyes have been the bedrock of his professional life, so to see Moyes lose his job took a while to sink in for him.