Neville believes Maguire’s Greece episode can help “invigorate” Man Utd

History shows Harry ­Maguire’s Greek drama will inspire Manchester United in the Theatre of Dreams this season.

And Gary Neville has backed the Old Trafford captain to follow in the footsteps of former leading men Eric Cantona, David ­Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo and gain redemption back on the home stage.

The world’s most expensive defender is facing a full retrial after his conviction for assault and attempted bribery in Mykonos last month was quashed on appeal. But Maguire is not the first Red Devil to get into trouble.

Enfant terrible Cantona served an eight-month ban for his kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan in 1995, future Golden Balls ­Beckham was public enemy No.1 after his red card at the 1998 World Cup, and winking Ronaldo put country before club when Wayne Rooney was sent off for England against Portugal eight years later.

Each time, the player returned to win back the audience, with manager Alex Ferguson using the incidents to create his ‘us against the world’ theme for those ­seasons – Manchester United went on to win the Premier League title each time. Now can Maguire and Ole Gunnar ­Solksjaer’s team play it again?

“In seasons gone by when I was playing at Manchester United, these moments can ­invigorate the squad and bring them together,” said Neville.

“It can create spirit when you think everyone is against you and you think you’re being criticised, you think you are the wrong side of the newspaper, you sometimes pull together a lot more and support each other.

“I think of the big moments at Manchester United, Eric Cantona’s return season or David Beckham coming back from a World Cup when there was huge pressure.

“And the Wayne Rooney-Ronaldo thing, that was a huge incident at the time, well beyond the Harry Maguire incident. It was a national thing, two great young players but they went on to win Champions Leagues and Premier Leagues together so the idea that this would pull them apart, I don’t see at all.

“This is an opportunity for them to galvanise spirit. They already have a good spirit, you can see that.

“I said at the end of last ­season, this is a team you can start to like and I would see that this would be a point where the players in that dressing room would rally around Harry Maguire, and why wouldn’t they?”

Looking back on his United career, Neville feels having two top keepers competing for the No.1 jersey can be an own goal.

Dean Henderson has ­returned from loan at Sheffield United to end David de Gea’s long reign as the undisputed first choice between the sticks. But Sky Sports analyst Neville, who won eight Premier League titles under Ferguson, said: “I never think it’s ideal having a situation like this in that ­position. You’re always better having an excellent No.1 and a quite clear very good No.2.

“Every time David de Gea makes some mistake, I know, we’ll be saying on Sky and you’ll be saying in your columns, ‘Is this Henderson’s moment?’

“Certainly the moments where we had a changing ­goalkeeping situation, say ­between Roy Carroll and Tim Howard, it was unhealthy in the sense none of them really knew who the No.1 was.

“None of them probably felt fully supported, in the sense that they weren’t absolutely ­guaranteed to play every week, and they always probably felt like they were one mistake away from the other one playing.

“That could happen with De Gea and Henderson this season. It’s going to be a real challenge of Ole’s management skills to keep them both happy, because I think that’s impossible.”