Gary Neville’s mocking clips about Leeds United fans resurfaced online after receiving backlash from unions.
During a supposed ad break during Sky Sports’ first Monday Night Football episode of the 2025/26 campaign on 18 August, Manchester United legend Neville was caught on air speaking his mind about what he thinks of Leeds fans.
Neville’s appearances on the show as a co-host have become somewhat rare these days, with Jamie Carragher usually joined by a rotating lineup of guests each week. But in this episode, Neville returned to the studio for the featured match between newly promoted Leeds United and Everton at Elland Road.
Everything was going well, co-hosts having banters and exchanging thoughts, but it wasn’t until Neville was caught off guard.
What Really Happened?
As Leeds fans were flashed on screen, Neville was unaware that the show had returned from an ad break, which caught him on mic trash-talking the fans, saying ‘They [Leeds] are the one group of fans I wouldn’t want to go anywhere near.’
As the camera returned to them, prompting on air, Neville and his co-hosts laughed, appeared to be joking, and said to his co-host, ‘Did you hear that?’
It was definitely an awkward hot mic moment for Neville. Still, Jones stepped into action, apologising and telling the Manchester United legend, ‘I don’t think they want you anywhere near them, so it’s fine,’ a likely perfect rebuttal from Leeds fans towards Neville’s thoughts about them.
Neville spent his entire career playing 598 times for Manchester United, which is Leeds’ fiercest rival, before retiring.
Well, as it turns out, fans actually found it hilarious, with one saying ‘That’s hilarious. [I] wish we had banter like this on TV more.’
‘As a Leeds fan, I take this in good banter, part of the Leeds/United rivalry. I wouldn’t recommend [that] Gary go anywhere near the Leeds die hards either 😂😂’
Another comment is even taking it as a compliment, ‘I’d take it as a compliment, he clearly finds them intimidating…’
Gary Neville is Receiving Backlash Over Union Flags
Neville did not hesitate to admit in a video that he removed a Union flag from one of his Manchester development sites.
The Manchester United legend turned developer said that the flag is being ‘used in a negative fashion.’
According to the report of the Daily Mail, an employee shared that Neville saw the flag on the fifth floor and ‘He got on the radio to one of the workers and started asking why the Union Flag was up there. He only mentioned the Union Flag, not the other two – and said it had to come down.’
The Union flag removal happened after the shocking tragedy in Manchester last week.
‘The division that’s being created is absolutely disgusting and it’s mainly created by angry, middle-aged white men who know exactly what they’re doing,’ Naville said on his video.
Urging the people that there is a need to ‘check ourselves, check ourselves and start to think about bringing ourselves back to a neutral point because we’re being pulled right and left and we don’t need to be pulled right and left at all.’
Meanwhile, Neville will not be expecting any action from Sky Sports because of the Union Flag controversy.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
