Gary Neville has questioned the FA over how it handled the controversy surrounding Wayne Rooney's late-night drinking in between England's matches against Spain and Scotland in November.
Rooney was pictured at a wedding reception at the England team hotel on a night in which members of the squad reportedly drank until 5am, leading Rooney to apologise to Gareth Southgate but blast the media for what he described as'disgraceful' coverage.
Neville, appearing on Sky Sports' Sunday Supplement, said he had a problem with how FA chief executive Martin Glenn handled the incident, claiming that a decision to publicly announce an investigation into Rooney's behaviour was a disaster.
"My issue is how it was dealt with by the FA and by the team," Neville said.
"You don't throw the guy overboard."
SS1 now or here: https://t.co/l49HlvBslM https://t.co/puFszCEF4J
"I'd like to think that when we were there, the idea that Wayne was - I don't know if he was pushed out to apologise or guided to apologise - to me that would have been a (case of) collective responsibility."
He added: "When you talk about fanning the flames, that's exactly what the FA did that week. Martin Glenn came out and said he would start an investigation - disaster, that was a disastrous statement. It's not an investigation, it's a phone call to say 'what happened?'
"The way it was handled for me was disappointing. From the FA saying there was going to be an investigation - there's not an investigation, there can't be, because they were given time to go out, they were given time to have a night off."
Neville served as Roy Hodgson's England assistant between 2012-2016 and said that he always gave clear instructions to players over nights off and outlining what was acceptable behaviour while on international duty.
Gary Neville hits out at FA for ˜throwing Wayne Rooney overboard' in hotel row https://t.co/MFhAF2qPJ6
"Roy gave the players nights off for four years - every Saturday night after a Friday game before Tuesday.
"There was never an incident reported. You might argue it was lucky, but what Roy did very well on the Friday was to make it very clear what was acceptable and what wasn't acceptable on the Saturday night and they were still on duty even though they were off duty.
"When you do have an incident you don't throw the guy overboard. You don't say 'get out there and apologise'. Some coaching staff were with him I believe it was reported - and other players were out in different areas of the city or different areas of the country.
"You all come together and say 'we all made a mistake, it wasn't just Wayne, we're all in it together'.
"I was disappointed to see Rooney have to come out and apologise when actually there were other players out on the same night probably doing the same things.
"Should he in future think about what he does on that Saturday night? Absolutely, I'm sure he won't do that mistake again. He has made a mistake because he's exposed himself to people he couldn't trust."
Neville added: "Privately he should have been probably given a massive telling-off but publicly don't expose him."
Gary Neville says media overstepped mark with England on two occasions: https://t.co/8lq5qKyGxi pic.twitter.com/tzs7AMSexG