Socceroos captain Lucas Neill has described as “scandalous” claims he led a player revolt against former coach Pim Verbeek during last year’s World Cup in South Africa.
Respected football commentator Les Murray claims in his new book The World Game that Neill told the team to ignore Verbeek’s game plan just before taking the field in their opening 4-0 loss to Germany in Durban.
But Neill, who is holidaying in the US, hit back on Friday, angrily denying the allegations and insisted he hadn’t even delivered the pre-match team talk.
The 33-year-old, who is hunting for a new club next season, also declared he was weighing up legal action in a bid to protect his reputation.
“The allegations made about me prior to the Germany game in Durban last year are completely false,” Neill said in a statement sent to AAP.
“I was angered to hear such claims in the media at home … They don’t even make sense when you consider them as they have been alleged.
“I have always had a great working relationship with the national team manager and supported them to the best of my ability and Pim Verbeek was no exception.
“… If a divide such as the one being claimed existed, it is highly unlikely we would have been able to perform as we did in the next two games.”
The loss to Germany proved the downfall of Australia’s campaign after they went on to draw with Ghana and defeat Serbia but narrowly miss out on the knockout stages.
Murray claimed Neill had ordered Verbeek to leave the dressing room in Durban before erasing the Dutchman’s scribbles and telling the players to “ignore this bullshit and play like we normally play.”
But Neill said it was goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, not he, who delivered the pre-match speech.
“The irony in all of this and what really highlights how absurd these claims are, is that Mark Schwarzer, as a senior player and member of our leadership group, gave the team talk just prior to taking the pitch for that particular game,” Neill said.
“The team is always left to themselves moments before going onto the pitch to generate some final motivational and inspirational words of encouragement.”
Neill called on Murray to reveal his sources and pointed towards possible legal action.
“My aim now is to ensure that my reputation remains intact, as I have worked very hard over many years to maintain a good and positive image within the sporting landscape and I will fight to the fullest extent of the law to clear my name of this scandalous accusation,” he said.
“I will be discussing the matter with my management and lawyers over the coming days.
“Those who are claiming that they have this information provided to them by `sources’ should reveal who those sources are, as I am sure that this information will come to light during the course of due legal process.”
Murray has stood by his claims in recent days and said he had not meant to paint Neill in a bad light, rather to highlight how Verbeek’s defensive tactics had hindered Australia’s prospects.
Several Socceroos players, including Craig Moore, Luke Wilkshire and Mile Jedinak, as well Football Federation Australia chief Ben Buckley, deny the incident happened.
Paddy Dominguez, from Neill’s management company Inspire Sports, questioned the “convenient timing of the revelations” around a book launch and said he was disappointed his client had not been given a chance to respond to the claims before the book was published.
PeterK
Guest
Les Who?
amazonfan
Roar Guru
Firstly, if he didn't do what Murray accused him of doing, how does that make him two faced? As for being greedy, how is he greedy? Plenty of players are not worth their pay, that doesn't make them greedy. Nor does not playing in the A-League not make him greedy. He doesn't have any obligation, moral or otherwise, to play in the A-League. I do think that if Murray was not telling the truth, and it is provable if Schwarzer did in fact deliver the final team talk, Murray must absolutely apologize, at the very least.
Cpaaa
Guest
"My aim now is to ensure that my reputation remains intact" Lucas Neil your reputation to me is that you are a greedy bastard, two faced captain. You are holidaying in the USA in order to source another greedy payday. You were never worth your value at Blackburn or West Ham and that is why we will never see you play in A-League. You will never be a hero like Harry,Tim, or Duke. Good luck in the states, im sure you will find another sucker club. I wonder what your reaction to LM comments would have been if we had won the match against Germany? ps Lucas, why not go play in Qatar? you have already indicated they can host a wonderful world cup, you could even be there ambassador or is Qatar a little too hot for you?
Uncle Bob
Guest
Saw the interview with Neill on the tele before. He seems to be forgetting what was said and done before the game now. I think Les might have been correct.
Football Fan
Guest
All time backfire on Les Murray here. He thought he was sledging Pim as was the SBS way but he seems to have misjudged how Neill was going to take it... May not sell many books either, cos now everyone knows what's in it!
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Yes that is a good point.
Aka
Guest
There is a big difference in players/ a team playing poorly because they don't have faith in the instruction/tactics or even the coach and a player mutiny. LM's accusation is that Neill instructed the team to ignore the Manager, vastly different from the team being disillusioned in the manager.
Realfootball
Guest
The one thing that does give Murray's account credence is the ridiculous high line that Neill and Moore played, which caused several of the goals. At the time I found it impossible to believe that Verbeek had directed them to play that way against a team with Germany's pace. It went against everything that Verbeek had shown himself to be - I sure was no fan of his. But with every player, including those retired, denying it...?
Uncle Bob
Guest
If Neill is telling the truth, Les Murray can sadly go the way of his mates at FIFA. But, I was at that game and something was up with the team. It was like an amateur Socceroos team out there. I thought after that match we should all just pack our bags and go home as we did not deserve to be in this company. We were out of our depth. There is some truth in what Les said, I am certain of that.
Midfielder
Guest
I think LM may just have lost his job... a sad way to go out on... Moore, Wilkshere & Jedi are all saying it did not happen... Neil says he did not even give the final team talk... you can now add Galekovic ... Listen to the Fox interview with Neil ... LM if you have any sense do a Robbie Slatter say sorry .... http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos/socceroos-captain-lucas-neill-shocked-by-allegations-of-player-led-revolt-at-2010-fifa-world-cup/story-e6frf4l3-1226081238988
Realfootball
Guest
Methinks Les has landed himself in hot water over this one. It is hard to believe that it could have been kept quiet for this long. On balance, I don't believe Les' claim is credible.