Gary Neville on Coventry City
Gary Neville has spoken about how much he enjoyed watching Coventry City against Nottingham Forest(Image: https://x.com/SkySportsPL)
Coventry City’s first Premier League win in 25 years has been described as a “beautiful thing” that Gary Neville says encapsulated the spirit of the English game – full of “fight and endeavour”.
The former Manchester United star said the Sky Blues ’ performance was “night and day” compared to his old club’s 1-1 bore draw at Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
Neville, now a prominent football pundit with his own podcast, has a special interest in Coventry because he knows Brandon Thomas-Asante, whom he signed for Salford back in League Two in 2019.
Asked about City’s 1-0 victory at Forest on his Gary Neville Podcast, it was put to the former England defender that anyone who is a football fan and understands what it means when your team wins would have identified with Coventry City supporters at the City Ground, just purely as a human exercise with the joy they exuded in celebrating that win, which was a beautiful thing.
“It was,” agreed Neville, “and I was watching it with my daughter and wife at the kitchen table. I got home from Salford probably about 15 minutes into the game and I was sort of half watching it a little bit because I thought Brandon Thomas-Asante is playing up top, playing centre-forward, so I wanted to watch him, and he did very well.
“So I wanted to watch the game and I have got the sound on a little bit but been told to turn it down a little bit – one of those moments. And by the end of the game we’re all sat there, and we all love football, and to me it was absolutely amazing.
“Brandon was jumping everywhere, he was getting fouled and we were sort of willing him on. They scored a great goal, which was fantastic and the Coventry fans in the far corner, seeing them when they scored that goal. And then the disallowed one. I thought it was a foul, a defender going back into the box and you get your foot kicked, it did just make him stumble.
“I mean, if you’re Nottingham Forest you are going to complain and think you’re hard done to but I did think it was a foul; he definitely stumbled and lost his footing but that added to the drama of it and everything that could go on, was going on.”
He added: “And then just the line at the end that it was Coventry’s first win in the Premier League for 25 years. And I remember at the end of my first season playing at Highfield Road, back in 1995, and I got booked against Peter Ndlovu. And I always had a really hard game at Coventry, whether it was Huckerby, Ndlovu or whoever, they were always a handful.
“Coventry were FA Cup winners back in the day, they were in the Premier League, were a team you played against and were a team I played in my first season so we were always at Coventry and this idea that they have not been there for 25 years; that it’s their first top flight victory for 25 years...
“Maybe it was because Brandon was playing as well and I just enjoyed the fact that ultimately he’s someone who I have seen and got a great relationship with, and he’s played up top in a game like that. And he went to the left for the last 10/15 minutes and yes, I really enjoyed it.
“In terms of a comparison between watching Fulham and Manchester United and then watching Nottingham Forest v Coventry, that is just night and day. What we saw on Saturday is what Premier League football is all about.”
He continued: “Was it Lamine Yamal said earlier in the week that he loved watching Premier League football because he loved the entertainment and thrill of it, and that made me feel quite proud. You know, that one of the greatest players in the world loves watching Premier League football, and if he’s watching Nottingham Forest v Coventry City, which is not the most glamorous of games on paper, but he’s right. He’s absolutely right.
“Even the Tottenham/Villa game, there’s a drama about it. And then when you see a game like this (Fulham v Man Utd) and it sort of pulls you back a little bit and makes you think, that’s not what we do. We don’t not sprint out, we don’t not challenge each other, we don’t not put energy and enthusiasm into the games.
“And if there’s a lack of quality you can live with that. Football fans in the stadium can live with a lack of quality at times but they won’t live with a lack of endeavour and effort with fight and scurrying and tenacity and all those things that make the English game great. So yes, that had it all (Forest v Coventry) in abundance, and I really enjoyed it.”
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Coventry City writer Andy Turner
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