‘I snapped’ – Gary Neville ditched podcast and confronted fan during Liverpool ‘abuse’
Gary Neville has detailed his footballing hell after his most hated team, Liverpool, won the Premier League in front of his eyes. The Manchester United legend was on commentary duty for the match where the Reds officially moved level with his old side on 20 league titles. Liverpool secured the title on SundayGetty The Overlap USAnd Neville had a day from hell[/caption] They did so with a comprehensive 5-1 hammering of Tottenham, and with six Champions League titles to United’s three, Neville magnanimously admitted pre-game that Liverpool have regained their status as England’s most successful side. However, he made those comments at an empty and silent Anfield which very much wasn’t the case when the full-time whistle was blown on Sunday. Neville usually finishes his weekend duties by recording a podcast with lead commentator Peter Drury, but on this occasion he headed right for the exit door. Recalling what happened at Anfield, Neville said on The Overlap US: “At the end of the game I normally do a podcast but I made the decision part way through the game [not to]. “It was getting a bit fruity up where we do it on the gantry, as the final whistle went, Peter normally does his thing and throws to me, but we agreed I wouldn’t speak. “So I put my backpack on, we went, we ran for it and we got right out onto the concours and beat everyone, however, what I didn’t then imagine was the carnage of people outside.” While Anfield was at full capacity, there were similar scenes outside as fans went to their Mecca for the grandest of moments. Neville went from empty stairwells to a full house outside the stadium, and realised nowhere was safe. However, things did get a bit too serious when some of the abuse went over the line. “I got absolutely abused, I snapped at a couple of people as well to be fair,” he admitted. Neville detailed how things quickly spiralled out of controlThe Overlap US “A lot of them were in good spirits, as you can imagine, and abused me. A guy on the M60 on the way home… “I’ve never been aggressive in my life, but honestly if I could’ve pulled over… It wasn’t a great half an hour after the game, it was a bit old school.” Neville went on to explain why things didn’t escalate beyond his control. “I always remember Sir Alex [Ferguson] when we lost the league to Chelsea or Arsenal he was always very gracious and we’d have to be as well. “We didn’t enjoy it but we had to be gracious and respect the fact that professionally it’s a great achievement to win the league. “You can’t talk about how difficult it is to win the league, how you should measure your success by that, and then at the point when your biggest rivals win it you go missing. “I always knew I was going to have to be there on Sunday and now I’ve done it, it’s over.”
Gary Neville has detailed his footballing hell after his most hated team, Liverpool, won the Premier League in front of his eyes.
The Manchester United legend was on commentary duty for the match where the Reds officially moved level with his old side on 20 league titles.
They did so with a comprehensive 5-1 hammering of Tottenham, and with six Champions League titles to United’s three, Neville magnanimously admitted pre-game that Liverpool have regained their status as England’s most successful side.
However, he made those comments at an empty and silent Anfield which very much wasn’t the case when the full-time whistle was blown on Sunday.
Neville usually finishes his weekend duties by recording a podcast with lead commentator Peter Drury, but on this occasion he headed right for the exit door.
Recalling what happened at Anfield, Neville said on The Overlap US: “At the end of the game I normally do a podcast but I made the decision part way through the game [not to].
“It was getting a bit fruity up where we do it on the gantry, as the final whistle went, Peter normally does his thing and throws to me, but we agreed I wouldn’t speak.
“So I put my backpack on, we went, we ran for it and we got right out onto the concours and beat everyone, however, what I didn’t then imagine was the carnage of people outside.”
While Anfield was at full capacity, there were similar scenes outside as fans went to their Mecca for the grandest of moments.
Neville went from empty stairwells to a full house outside the stadium, and realised nowhere was safe.
However, things did get a bit too serious when some of the abuse went over the line.
“I got absolutely abused, I snapped at a couple of people as well to be fair,” he admitted.
“A lot of them were in good spirits, as you can imagine, and abused me. A guy on the M60 on the way home…
“I’ve never been aggressive in my life, but honestly if I could’ve pulled over… It wasn’t a great half an hour after the game, it was a bit old school.”
Neville went on to explain why things didn’t escalate beyond his control.
“I always remember Sir Alex [Ferguson] when we lost the league to Chelsea or Arsenal he was always very gracious and we’d have to be as well.
“We didn’t enjoy it but we had to be gracious and respect the fact that professionally it’s a great achievement to win the league.
“You can’t talk about how difficult it is to win the league, how you should measure your success by that, and then at the point when your biggest rivals win it you go missing.
“I always knew I was going to have to be there on Sunday and now I’ve done it, it’s over.”
