Gary Neville Faces Backlash from Critics After Political Comments Spark Online Debate
Many middle-aged white men have been incensed by Manchester United icon Gary Neville’s reasonable criticism of divisiveness in the UK and abroad.
Neville has received a lot of criticism in the past week, with the Daily Mail’s coverage of his remarks being especially alarming since they were labelled a “racist” outburst.
The former Manchester United and England defender has, understandably, been taken out of context in some places despite making a broader statement denouncing “hate speech in any form and abuse in any form” and calling on everyone to come together “to get back to a country of love, of peace, of harmony.”
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Neville’s opinion about “the division that’s being created…mainly by angry, middle-aged white men who know exactly what they’re doing” has undoubtedly made headlines, with middle-aged white men being especially incensed with the businessman and Sky Sports pundit.
Here are nine of the greatest, worst, and, to be honest, scariest opinions on Neville’s remarks this week.
Simon Jordan
“I find it shocking that he chooses to target middle-aged white guys after an Islamist terror incident. “I don’t know, maybe the middle-aged white males were the ones who worked in his hotel for minimum salary.
He is a coward and a champagne socialist, in my opinion. It’s a terrible thing to say. Jordan said when asked why Neville is a coward:
“I believe that the true problem is with radical Islamist extremism and he lacks the courage to call it out for what it is, instead of suggesting that he’s insulated from these things, challenging our country about what’s happening.”
“His wealth and privilege have enabled him to live in a gated community, not worry about NHS appointments, or about people being attacked on the street by illegal immigrants who shouldn’t be there in the first place. He lives in a very rarefied world.”
He can sit there and watch in a way that shields him from these things because he doesn’t have to care about them. It’s a terrible position to have adopted, in my opinion.
“He has the right to a view and to his own opinion. Whether it is the flag of Palestine, the flag of Ukraine, or any other flag that we believe we may wave, we are more than glad to wave it here.
“But Gary Neville’s remarks are the epitome of being a champagne socialist, insulated from the real world, and a coward because the real issue is some of the extremism going on in this country.”
This is especially true when discussing people in this country who have legitimate concerns, want a legitimate set of values, and want to rebel against what they’re having forced upon them.
Nigel Farage
He is accusing “middle-aged white men,” who are the ones who pay for Sky Sports and his pay cheque, of causing all the divisiveness rather than some vile, insane, and insane Islamist who set out to murder innocent people.
“This Gary Neville is so detached from reality, so detached from the average football fan, it is not true,” Farage continued. “That Sky Sports keeps him on is amazing.”
Joey Barton
They claim that he is valued between £50 million and £70 million, and in his clearly secluded life, he is in the ivory tower position of being flown into a Sky studio and back behind a wall in whatever expansive estate he owns. People are telling me that Overlap makes £20,000 a year.
Since ARNE is now their sponsor, they will undoubtedly be thrilled to hear Gary say that, given I believe their target market consists of white, middle-class guys.
It’s obviously not a group of white, middle-class men who call themselves Jihad. I don’t think there would be that many of them.
However, Gary has become involved in this virtue-signaling bullshit. As I told him and Rio last night, I’m more than happy to dispute you two, so this jerk, Neville, has crossed over with me.
Let’s talk about anything for two hours. I think you have a lot to answer for here academically, but you don’t have to be afraid of me since Gary sat in a room with me when we recorded The Edge podcast.
I don’t think Gary Neville has considered his audience because, from what I can tell, he just mentioned people who enjoy the Union Jack and are patriotic enough to fly their country’s flag in their home country, which he has represented 85 times internationally.
Just think of how outraged everyone would be if he had said someone with brown or black skin.
People like this, gaslighting you constantly, telling you: ‘No, no, you’re a racist for thinking that,'” the charming Barton continued. You’re absolutely correct in your viewpoint.
We have a f*****g d***head football player who is a complete moron and whose ar**hole is up for rent to the highest bidder when a synagogue is attacked.
If that is the case, he will disregard human rights in order to go and steal Qatari funds. As seen by his foolish remarks this past weekend, he is a whore who is vulnerable to abuse.
“Now, if he truly felt connected to his fan base, the people who support his shows, his football team, or some of his businesses, and if he was a man of the people as he claims to be, he would know that middle-aged white men are not the problem.”
“Sticking a few flags up and being terrified that your daughters, your granddaughters, or your wife are going to be accosted in a changing room by an illegal invader is not a f*****g far right position.”
Matt Le Tissier
“It’s a little odd that he’s essentially attacked the group of people who are paying his salary,” Le Tissier said to Southampton Solent University students.
The answer, in my opinion, depends on your stance and if it aligns with the goals of the media mainstream.
“And I believe that most people lean left, so if you’re a little right-handed, you won’t be given the grace to make mistakes that other people do.”
“Yeah, I think they’ll stand by him and support him,” the Southampton legend continued.
When Jamie Carragher spat at a young girl from the back of his car, they were there to support him.
“I think Gary has a pretty good case there if they try to get rid of him because it is not quite as bad as that.”
Jeremy Kyle
We’re being told that we’re being turned against one another primarily by irate middle-aged white men who think it’s acceptable to fly flags.
“I’m not going to sit here and say stick to football, everybody’s entitled to their opinion, but why am I surrounded by people like Neville who have made millions on the back of working-class people — people they’re supposed to represent, people they’re supposed to respect?” I apologise.
“I know I tell you every week that I’m going to come here and I’m going to remain calm.
“Does he really think that middle-aged white men flying flags is dividing this nation?” Kyle continued.
“There was a protest march not three hours later, not a mile away, with people shouting profanities and waving Palestinian flags, but Gary Neville wouldn’t bring that up, would he? That was three hours after those poor, poor Jews on Yom Kippur were killed by that terrorist called Jihad.
People like Neville, however, would respond, ‘Oh, but it’s unjust,’ if you stepped up and said that it’s shameful that these people are marching and inciting violence. Attacking middle-aged white guys is OK.
“I tell you what, Gary Neville, do two things,” Kyle went on, “but you won’t, will you? Take your fortune and donate it to every immigrant and every group that you believe isn’t treated well in this country.
“Or, instead of living behind the gates of your enormous Chester mansion, you numpty, move to somewhere where there are immigrants living on the streets and where your teenage daughters might not feel safe.”
The Sun Journalist, Ross Clark
It is likely that Gary Neville was not as outraged by the sight of our national flags as he seems to be now.
“I don’t recall him rushing into the stands to tear down Union Jacks or St George’s Crosses that excited fans were waving, or protesting when men, women, and kids joined in the fun by painting red crosses on their faces during his 85 England games.”
“In an online video, he boasted that he had ordered the removal of a Union flag that construction workers had erected at a block of apartments his company is building in Manchester,” Clark continued.
He used the argument that “angry middle-aged white men” are using the flag in a “negative fashion” to defend his actions. “I’m not sure how you fly a Union flag negatively.”
“So, no, we have no reason to be ashamed of our flag,” Clark went on. “On the contrary, if only people like Gary Neville will allow it, we have every reason to fly it with pride from our homes and places of employment.”
Oliver Brown, The Daily Telegraph Chief Sports Writer
Playing the role of the great healer, he states, “We need to check ourselves, start to bring ourselves back to a neutral point.”
Nothing suggests impartiality more than blaming “angry middle-aged white men” alone for the toxicity, after all.
It’s odd that Neville would view these individuals—the ones who labour on his construction projects and who purchase Sky Sports subscriptions to help him maintain his seven-figure salary—as some unimaginable segment of the populace.
Neville is the quintessential example of a celebrity who is so praised in his own sport that he seems blind to anything or anyone who might contradict his beliefs. Gary Lineker made the same mistake.
Neville is learning the hard way that opinions that are appealing to him within his egotistical bubble frequently fall apart when he comes into contact with the outside world.
This explains why his most recent video has elicited more mockery and disdain than praise, with viewers threatening to shut down their Sky subscription in protest.
Perhaps he now understands that if you want to present yourself as the voice of reason and balance, you cannot denounce the Union flag as a source of division while ignoring the Palestine Action demonstrations that followed the Manchester outcry, despite calls to respect the Jewish community.
Neville’s use of the well-worn phrase “I’ve played 85 times for my country” to summon his patriotism is doubly strange.
These accolades, which he received between 1995 and 2007, were only due to his athletic prowess and not his unwavering loyalty to Queen and his nation.
What gives him the right to define patriotic loyalty for everyone else, then? Simply put, the answer is hubris. Neville behaves as though he has the authority to be the nation’s conscience since he is the most well-known football expert.
His reaction to the horror in his hometown may be his most risky instance of self-parody to date. Neville’s attempt to draw a connection between the actions of an Islamist terrorist and his love for the Union Flag is not the only flawed reasoning; he is also biting the hand that feeds.
Why is he disparaging his own listeners? Why doesn’t he stop to think that he’s almost in the ditch because he’s gone so far out of his lane?
Not for the first time, the issue is not irate white middle-aged men, but rather multimillionaires like Gary who have been fooled into believing that their football credentials grant them exclusive access to moral goodness.
Stephen Pollard, Telegraph
“It appears that you can be anything but the dreaded “middle-aged white male” in modern Britain,” which, incidentally, also describes Neville.
Simon Evans, Spiked columnist
It appears that middle-aged white men are now available year-round. The antithesis of a protected species is ourselves. Call it scape-gammon.
Since Neville has forgotten who has funded his lifestyle since the Major years, no one will confront him about his racism or hypocrisy.
In addition to posing a few queries, Neville made a bold move into the realm of scape-squirrels.
He accused middle-aged white individuals waving flags of being responsible for the killings carried out by a terrorist group known as Jihad.
