Robbie Fowler believes Gary Neville was ‘disrespectful’ to suggest his Liverpool development affected his scoring success for England.
Fowler is one of the Reds’ most successful academy products as he made 369 appearances over two spells, scoring 183 goals.
Although he was prolific at club level, the striker earned just 26 caps for England and netted seven goals during his international career.
Speaking on The Overlap last year, his former Three Lions teammate Neville said: “Can I make a controversial statement? Might not even be controversial.
“Robbie Fowler could have been England’s greatest ever goalscorer, if he hadn’t of grown up in that Liverpool team.”
He then alluded that Fowler would have taken the title if he was part of Manchester United’s famous ‘Class of ’92’, the six young academy stars including Neville that won an iconic treble in 1999.
Liverpool’s trophy haul was far less in comparison to their rivals, who dominated English football throughout the 1990’s.
However, Fowler has hit back at Neville’s suggestion and hinted there was a smaller gap in quality between the two sides than perceived.
“I mean, that’s disrespectful,” he responded after Jim White read out Neville’s quotes on The LineUp for talkSPORT.
“In fact, we were probably close to matching Manchester United. Certainly when I think of maybe ’96, that year we were brilliant, and possibly were better than Man United.
“We were probably inconsistent against to so-called weaker teams, Manchester United used to beat them whereas we maybe struggled to win those games.”
Fowler then mentioned ‘The Spice Boys’, a group of Liverpool players whose name came from rumours that he dated Emma Bunton of the pop group The Spice Girls.
The Reds icon, alongside co-stars including Jamie Redknapp and Steve McManaman, saw their off-pitch lifestyles widely reported.
Fowler himself said on The LineUp that the term ‘The Spice Boys’ was ‘derogatory’ and explained why he knows why it came into use.
“It came from the late 90’s when we had a bunch of young players, who were supposedly out drinking all the time when we should have been playing games.”
But following on from his response to Neville’s claim, he insisted it wasn’t just he and his Liverpool teammates who went on nights out.
“I know people can bring whatever they want into that, again it’s that conversation with ‘The Spice Boys’, you never took it seriously.
“But I think it’s disrespectful to the players because I played with great players as well… You are like a product of your environment.
“I know Manchester United, their environment was maybe changing in terms of the players looking after themselves a little bit better, but they still went out.
“We know that because we used to bump into them.”
Fowler won five trophies during his Liverpool career and nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 1996 and 1997.
He also played for fellow English giants Leeds United and Manchester City before retiring from his professional career in 2012.