Neville offers to step aside from United coverage if Sky Sports ask him to

Gary Neville has said he would step aside from covering Manchester United matches without hesitation if Sky Sports asked him to, after Rio Ferdinand confronted him with criticism from supporters who feel the former right-back has lost passion for his old club.

Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Ferdinand told Neville that United fans he had spoken to were asking why he showed “less passion and positivity” about the club in his punditry. Neville did not dismiss the charge.

“United are the hardest games I do,” Neville said. “People might think that I’m more critical of United when they don’t play well. Sometimes, over the last maybe ten years, the balance — maybe I’ve not got it right.”

The 50-year-old added that if he were told not to cover United games, he would accept it immediately. “If they said to me ‘don’t cover United games, let me just sit in the stand and watch them,’ I’d say yeah, all day long — but I still do the games. It’s difficult.”

Neville remains a divisive figure among football supporters. Some accuse him of favouring United, while a section of the club’s own fanbase believes he is too quick to criticise them. He acknowledged the tension is genuine, noting that personal loyalty and professional objectivity are not always easy to reconcile.

“Do I want City to win the league? I absolutely don’t want City anywhere near the league title,” he said. “I don’t want City or Liverpool to ever win a game of football again. I genuinely don’t. But to be a professional and do the very best, sometimes I maybe don’t get the balance right with United.”

Neville also touched on transfer speculation linking Cole Palmer with a move from Chelsea to Old Trafford. While he described the England midfielder as a potentially “gold” signing for United, he was sceptical the deal would materialise.

“I don’t think it would happen — I think Chelsea will hang onto him,” Neville said. “There’s very few signings like that available. It’s only every few years that these type of players become available.”

He did, however, express approval for United’s recent recruitment strategy, singling out Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo as smart acquisitions. “They weren’t ‘gold’ but there was a removal of risk because they’d played in the Premier League and they were stepping up a level and they were young and hungry,” he said.