MANCHESTER United and England footballers Phil and Gary Neville, from Bury, today came to the defence of comprehensive schools as they added their names to a campaign to promote the benefits of state education.

The brothers joined author Zadie Smith, MP and former close adviser to Tony Blair David Milliband and MEP Glenys Kinnock as "comprehensive champions", said the Campaign for State Education.

CASE is one of the most vocal opponents of the Government's specialist school policy, claiming the practice of giving some comprehensives more money than others is helping to recreate the old grammar-secondary modern divide.

Comprehensive champions are supposed to take every opportunity to tell the public and the media about the benefits of mixed ability, mixed family background education.

Phil Neville said on the campaign's website, www.casenet.org/champions: "I thoroughly enjoyed my time at school, it allowed me to meet new people from a wide range of backgrounds.

"This social mixing could not have put me in a better position than I am now."

Ms Smith, who wrote the best-selling White Teeth said: "A good comprehensive, like the one I attended will probably not teach you Latin, but it will want to, desperately, and would if someone would just give them the money.

"In the absence of Latin, it will teach you everything else and will expect you to be adult enough to choose whether you wish to pay attention or not."

CASE spokeswoman Margaret Tulloch said: "We want people to be proud of having been to a comprehensive."