Gary Neville is one of the UK’s most esteemed sports broadcasters – but one former Manchester United team-mate didn’t leave a glowing review after his first appearance on Sky Sports. In fact, ex-Red Devils midfielder Nicky Butt though Neville’s debut on Sky Sports was ‘s***’.
Neville is now in his 13th year as a pundit, having joined Sky Sports at the start of the 2011-12 season. He has become one of the country’s lead analysts in that time, forming a great partnership with old rival Jamie Carragher and presenter Dave Jones.
However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the former United captain at first. Butt was once very critical of his ex-United team-mate’s debut on Sky Sports, which saw him look rather nervous when speaking to former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini.
In his debut on MNF back in 2011, Neville stumbled over his words, leaving Butt less than impressed with his performance. The 49-year-old told The Athletic in 2021 that he let Neville know how he felt about his debut, before his old-team-mate eventually went on to prove him wrong.
He said: “As a manager, you’ll have tough times and get cr*p off the press. I know that – and I’m fine with the media. I wasn’t when I started in my first interviews – or my first managerial speeches, but you learn. I remember seeing Nev on Sky Sports at first and he was s***, and I told him. Now he’s the best, by a mile. And you have to be prepared for questions – journalists have a job to do too.”
Neville has continued to improve since that debut and now sets the gold standard for football punditry. He began his 13th year on Monday Night Football last night (Monday 18th August) as Tottenham Hotspur took on Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
Since his debut, Neville has won the Sports Pundit award at the 2014, 2015 and 2022 Royal Television Society (RTS) awards. MNF also won the best Sports Programme honour at the 2016 RTS awards, and the Television Show of the Year prize at the 2024 Sports Journalists’ Association Awards, showcasing the programme’s popularity.
Neville has become popular for his detailed insight, as well as his rivalry with Carragher that fans have alikened to them acting like brothers. He is considered one of the best pundits on television right now – but he was once of the same opinion as his ex-United team-mate about his abilities on the TV.
Neville has looked back on his punditry career and previously told Sky Sports’ Off Script that he had “huge doubts” about taking on the huge job. He said: “People were very doubtful about ‘Mr. Manchester United‘ being able to come on to Sky Sports and be neutral and be fair to all the other different teams that I’ve obviously disliked over the years… There was a wave of opinion and doubt against me.
“They sent one of the MNF analysis screens to my house about three weeks before the start of the season and I had a couple of weeks with it. But I had huge doubts and didn’t really want to do it.”
The ex-United star will continue his stellar punditry career on the Sky Sports this season, as well as joining NBC Sports as a special contributor for their Premier League coverage for the 2024/25 season.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk