Gary Neville has responded to Manchester United fan criticism over his punditry
Gary Neville says he’d sit and watch Manchester United matches in the stands if Sky Sports instructed him to cease covering fixtures following accusations from supporters. Former United colleague Rio Ferdinand told Neville that certain fans he’d encountered felt the ex-right-back displayed diminished passion for United.
Neville remains a polarising figure amongst football supporters, with some claiming he favours his former club, while United fans believe he’s occasionally overly critical of them. The 51-year-old acknowledges he may have misjudged the balance over the past decade.
On the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Ferdinand said to Neville: “I spoke to a few United fans. Quite a few of them were saying ‘ask him why he shows less passion and positivity about us now as a pundit?’”
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Neville responded: “It’s a balance though Rio, isn’t it? It’s like, do I want City to win the league? I absolutely don’t want City anywhere near the league title.
“I’ll say it on here now. I don’t want City or Liverpool to ever win a game of football again. I genuinely don’t. But do you know something, to be a professional and do the very best, sometimes I maybe don’t get the balance right with United.
“United are the hardest games I do. People might think that I’m more critical of United when they don’t play well. Sometimes, over the last maybe ten years, the balance, maybe I’ve not got it right.
“If they said ‘to me don’t cover United games for Sky, let me just sit in the stand and watch them.’ I’d say yeah, all day long but I still do the games. It’s difficult.”
Neville also addressed the future of Cole Palmer, who has been connected with a switch to Manchester United from Chelsea. He stated he would be delighted to see the forward arrive at Old Trafford but acknowledged the deal is improbable.
“I do like the signings of [Matheus] Cunha and [Bryan] Mbeumo last summer because they’ve had that grounding in the Premier League,” said Neville.
“They weren’t ‘gold’ but there was a removal of risk because they’d played in the Premier League and they were stepping up a level and they were young and hungry.
“‘Those type of signings are good. There’s talk of Cole Palmer and that looks like a signing that could be gold for Manchester United if he came to Old Trafford.
“I don’t think it would happen though, I think Chelsea will hang onto him. But there’s very few signings like that available, it’s only every few years that these type of players become available.”
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