Gary Neville's become arguably the most well-known football pundit on UK television since hanging up his boots but the businessman has addressed his plans for the future
Comments
Sport
Gary Neville speaking on Sky Sports
Gary Neville has shared his retirement stance(Image: Getty Images)
Gary Neville has opened up about his future in football punditry, saying “I won’t retire” from working in general.
The Manchester United legend retired from football on February 2, 2011, after nearly 20 years of playing for his boyhood club. The ex-defender almost immediately turned to broadcasting, taking over from Andy Gray as a pundit on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show at the start of the 2011/12 season.
Article continues below
Two years later, Neville began presenting the show alongside broadcaster Ed Chamberlin, becoming one of the nation’s leading football analysts alongside Jamie Carragher, who joined in 2015. The 50-year-old then launched his own YouTube channel - The Overlap - with Sky Bet, which includes interviews, podcasts and fan debates.
Father-of-two Neville has been a notoriously hard worker since his playing days and still maintains that work ethic, operating several businesses away from his football-related work. His responsibilities and age have subsequently led to him being asked about his future in recent times.
Last year, he was quizzed by Jill Scott on an episode of The Overlap podcast whether he has a retirement plan and whether he wants to “just chill” from the age of 60.
While he didn’t mention punditry, the idea of stopping work completely didn’t appeal to the multi-millionaire, who replied: “I won’t retire, no. I won’t retire. I’m a risk-taker me. I invest in businesses and stuff.”
He also said last month that his biggest pet peeve was “people not working hard. Not turning up working hard,” indicating that he will always work in some capacity.
But when asked where he sees himself in ten years, Neville gave a tongue-in-cheek but perhaps telling response over his future on our television screens, saying: “Hopefully not sat in this chair answering these questions!”
Neville has, in fact, begun to step back from Monday Night Football since Autumn last year in order to focus on his ‘Stick to Football’ podcast and The Overlap US.
Having not appeared on the show since mid-August, he admitted to Rebecca Lowe on the Overlap US YouTube channel: "So tomorrow, I'm expected to do set-pieces, whereas with Sky, on Monday Night Football, there are some set pieces which I prepare for - but now I don't do Monday Night Football anymore, I don't do set-pieces any more."
The presenter may still appear on the show sporadically in the future, but the programme will largely focus on special guest appearances instead of the Neville and Carragher partnership which was prevalent in years gone by.
Neville away from football runs an investment business called Relentless, launched in 2015, which “supports businesses from launch through to scale”. The company also sees him pursue his passion for property development, which includes the £200million St Michael's development in his home city of Manchester.
The Sunderland Business Festival is to return in October.
Gary Neville has numerous business interests(Image: Elliot Nichol Photo)
He also co-founded University Academy 92 (UA92) with his fellow Manchester United legends Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scoles and Nicky Butt, which is a higher education institution aiming to modernise education to make it more accessible for all. He also acquired Salford City FC as a Non-League football club with his former team-mates in 2014, helping them ascend up the ladder to League Two.
Neville was recently encouraged to quit punditry and take a step back from his business interests - to take charge of none other than Manchester United. Legendary broadcaster and Match of the Day anchor Des Lynam claimed that ex-Red Devils captain Neville would be the best man to salvage the Red Devils from their struggles and back to Premier League glory - despite his well-known failure as a manager during a short-lived spell in Spain with Valencia.
Lynam claimed that Neville would have the necessary impact in the dressing room but would also be able to hold those in the United hierarchy to account. The ex-Premiership presenter suggested Neville's business acumen would pay dividends.