Gary Neville has revealed he “snapped’ at Liverpool fans after drew level with Manchester United on 20 league titles on Sunday.
Liverpool thrashed Spurs 5-1 in front of their own supporters at Anfield to be crowned champions of England and Neville was in attendance, providing commentary for Sky Sports alongside Peter Drury.
When in the gantry for a Sunday fixture, Neville typically records a podcast with Drury but on this occasion he wasted no time and footage shared by Liverpool of their official club commentary showed the former United captain shooting off after the final whistle.
Because of his history with United and the fact he performed a badge-kissing celebration right in front of Liverpool fans, Neville is very much disliked by the Reds faithful and so decided a swift exit was the best option.
But while he was successful in getting out of the ground quickly as fans stayed after and celebrated inside the ground, the former England right-back ended up receiving all kinds of abuse outside of Anfield and admitted to losing his cool.
“So basically at the end of the game, I normally do a podcast but I made the decision, part-way through the game, [as] it was getting a bit fruity up there where I was, in the gantry,” he said on the It’s Called Soccer podcast.
“And, to be fair, the security guard was literally there with me. So I got my backpack and literally, as the final whistle went, Peter (Drury), he usually does this thing where he throws it to me, I just said I wouldn’t have to speak.
“So I put my backpack on, we ran, we went for it and we got right out onto the concourse and beat everyone. However, what I didn’t then imagine was the carnage and the people outside. I got absolutely abused and, yeah, I snapped at a few people.
“I mean, look, a lot of them were in good spirits as you would imagine but they just abused me. And then, to be fair, a guy on the M60 on the way home, honestly, I’ve never been aggressive in my life, but if I could have pulled over…yeah, it wasn’t a great last half-hour for me after the game.”
Gary Neville wasted no time in leaving Anfield on Sunday. Image: X/@LFC
Neville has been known to head down pitchside or to the studio for post-match discussions but rejected the offer from presenter Dave Jones, telling him pre-match, “No, there is no point in me coming down here again. I think the Liverpool fans probably won’t let me get out of the commentary box!'”
Liverpool will lift the Premier League trophy after the final game of the season against Crystal Palace on 25 May and it will be interesting to see if Neville’s services are called upon once again.
