Sometimes, Gary Neville wishes he could take it back.
The Manchester United and England legend, now one of soccer’s most influential on-air analysts, knows his voice carries throughout the sport.
Nearly every week, his criticisms or reactions or comments seem to go viral, enraging one fan base and delighting the next.
He’s become a leading voice for soccer, helping frame the sport’s discourse. That, naturally, leads to ample animosity for some of the opinions he expresses.
“I don’t like it sometimes,” Neville told The Post in a wide-ranging interview at Spotify Studios in downtown Manhattan. “Sometimes I don’t like it. Sometimes I think ‘I just wanted a quiet week.’”
Some of his most memorable criticisms have left him with regret.
“When I said ‘Billion-dollar bottlejobs’ last year about Chelsea, sometimes you think ‘words, come back.’ It’s a good line, but it’s gonna really hurt. It’s gonna hurt Mauricio [Pochettino]. It’s gonna hurt some of the players. I didn’t intend that. I didn’t intend the hurt. But I wanted to punch with the line.
“I said about David Luiz that he’s controlled by a nine-year-old in the stands on a PlayStation. No doubt it was a great line. But it never left him. It hounded him throughout his career. Whenever he went missing and went into midfield or misplayed [a pass]. You have got to be careful and to be fair, there have been times when I have got it wrong. But I don’t always want that reaction. Sometimes I do, but sometimes I don’t.”
But that authenticity and biting commentary is why he’s been so successful in his second career in media.
And it’s why he’s relishing his latest venture – a digital show called “It’s Called Soccer” aimed at an American audience alongside Jamie Carragher and Rebecca Lowe.
Off television and in a more relaxed environment, the guardrails are lowered even further.
They believe the show captures them talking about the sport in its purest form.
“You’re authentic, that’s why you work,” Lowe said of Neville. “That’s why Jamie works, because they’re authentic. They’re the same off as they are on.
“You either got it or you haven’t. You’re born with it or you haven’t. You’ve got a charisma and a way of delivery that people want to listen. I always judge a TV show, a soccer broadcast, do I want to listen to the halftime show? Roy Keane’s got it, I want to listen to what he’s saying. Gary Neville’s got it, you want to listen to what he’s got to say. Not everyone has it and you either have it or you don’t. Gary had it the moment he started, and he’s still got it now.”
As Neville evolves as a media personality, he believes he better understands what fans most want to engage with.
With this new show, he’s bringing his voice to an even bigger audience.
He hopes they see him, Carragher and Lowe as close to their true selves as possible.
“I genuinely believe that you have to facilitate harmony between the people you’re working with,” Neville said. “And that’s straight away noticeable if you’ve got people where there isn’t harmony. It’s quite awkward to watch. … The idea that you facilitate people feeling comfortable when they come is really important. I think that’s something that I think we do quite well.”