Gary Neville reacts to his MNF debut! | Off Script

well Gary there won't be too much of this but I want to start by saying something nice because you have become a pundit who's admired who a lot of people enjoy but once go right back to the start 2011 and particularly to that very first Eminem because I do think personally of Eminem as being Sky's flagship is where we see the deepest analysis it's where we see the cutting edge technologies maybe where in 92 we saw sky make the biggest difference in terms of introducing Eminem and always think of it as a big test of a pundit as well because you've got to lead it you're not just answering questions so maybe just like where did the M&F journey start for you when was it pitched to you what did you think of the idea it was pitched to me about probably six weeks before six to eight weeks for maximum I'd agreed to come to sky act at the start of the 2010 season but for some reason probably regrettably now starts first and David Gill persuaded me to stay on the other year so I had to just put my start with sky back a year after and in that season and the gray Richard Keys left so I originally was planned just to come in and support them along with the other pundits in the studios Jamie Redknapp and others Graeme Souness but obviously in that period where they left that was obviously avoided sky and respective presentation and also on the the punditry side and it was partway through that summer that offseason where Andy Melvin and Barney Francis the head of Sky Sports and deputy head of Sky Sports called me into their office and I went in there and they said to me that they wanted me to do Monday Night Football and I said no I said that's not really that's not really said it wasn't sensible I think that obviously Richard and they'd had such a huge impact on that show it was their show and the idea of coming in and sort of almost like following Sir Alex Ferguson in some ways almost doomed and I just said no I said you know I think I feel like others should do it and I should have a year to sort of like you know make you know make the moment make my name in poetry it was difficult as enough as it was people were very doubtful about mr. münch United being able to come under sky sports and be neutral and be fair to all the different teams that had obviously disliked all these years so there's already a sort of a wave of opinion or doubt should I say against me the idea of then doing sort of what would be the most difficult show and doing it in my first season without any real experience I just said no but they insisted and the Melvyn I remember saying no soon you will do it was a little bit right like Sir Alex in his manners got some you know quite yet quite fierce and and said no you will immerse yourself and you will do it and they sent a screen to my house one of the mnf analysis screens about probably I think three weeks before the start of the season I had a couple of weeks with it but I had huge doubts and didn't really want to do it it's hard to think of you with huge doubts I mean you're just setting that answer there that it's the most difficult show so a lot of I mean I see a little bit but a lot of people don't why is it the most difficult show it's all live no r2q you are literally reacting to what happens the first hour you can plan a little bit around what happens but you don't know what teams you can plan for your team shapes and your team selections but they're always different than what you imagine you've got a react to that you get the teams through the core to going on air so you really have built pieces that might not exist there might be an injury the mapped things that happen I just think the show is so demanding it's four hours you're there all day from 9:00 in the morning through till half 11:00 at night it just I always felt like Tuesday I felt like I had a massive hangover in the first few years of Monday Night Football just it took so much out of you from a mental point of view it's definitely the most demanding television experience that I think you could have in football there is nothing like it but it's also the most rewarding and the most brilliant show to do the concept is fantastic it's it's its studio its analysis it's obviously the Twitter Q&A at the end now it's very different obviously with Jamie Carragher in there so you've got someone to but at the very beginning it was just me and ed so I always having to field every single question for four hours apart from when the game was on and it was just completely consuming in terms of it took three or four days just to get my head around what we're going to do in the show what the producers were telling me what the directors were telling me what ed was thinking and to get that all to come together when you've got a real lack of experience was just hugely challenging in those early years so if that first weekend that you work for Sky 2011 I think you did the Super Sunday as well in terms of maybe putting your reputation on the line was the Monday Night Football the thing you were thinking about say a week before two weeks before right that's the show I've got a bit right the Sunday will be fine that it's almost like the footballers the football takes care of itself if I'm going to be a success of it if other people who are making their debuts are going to be a success it's all on that Monday yeah because before I went to Sky I knew I couldn't really fail too much in the studio it was I've been comfortable doing interviews for years you go in that studio you've got two or three other people alongside you you have time to think you watch the game in the first half and you have loads of time to prepare what you're going to say you see the goals 15 times before they come to you and it's the easiest thing in the world for someone who can articulate football to speak in a studio I don't think it's particularly a difficult job some people can attach themselves to the fans at home more than others but generally it's not the most demanding thing to do in the world Monday Night Football and commentary a completely different level you know the commentary you're in-game it's immediate it's almost like him to make a decision and you have it to react on the ground you haven't runnel eyes things that people can't see with camera angles that you haven't seen before so it's really demanding cold comment you still to this day Monday Night Football is demanding from a point of view but with something innovative I used to say that on a Monday nights you are you are the last bus stop if you like you're the last stop in town because you've had about the soccer a.m. you've had match the day you've had Super Sunday bad match of day two you had all Sky Sports News showing all the goals all day and come burn the evening people would say we have more time to plan you've got less to go up because you but all the other outlets have discussed it debated it and they're already and you've got to try and come up with something innovative that still exists of material that really to be fair should have already gone because the other pundits in other broadcasters or other shows within Skye should have really dealt with it so it really is challenging because you can plan to really do something and I'm on a Super Sunday and it's back to the day to cover it cover back to the day to cover it really well you're in a situation where you think we can't repeat what others have done you have to change your mind then you meet on the Monday morning you've got to change direction I have to say in though in that early year 18 months I was so surprised how much I still had to go out in terms of big things that were happening in games I don't think that a lot was going on in terms of analyzing games at that point it was more commentating on the comments at commentary on the girls but it gets more and more difficult now to think pundit Reese got better more analytical and I have to say now in the shows that I do with Jamie on the Monday night now we get left to less left to go up on a Monday night than we ordinarily would have but it's still a really demanding show the toughest show to do I always say they took his four hours in football television it's definitely that Monday Night Football it just you really have to sort of think about what's going on all the time watch the game think about the game think about what he's gonna say because he's a loose cannon he obviously got even care about the presents yeah carry gear he's a loose cannon you know what's coming next you know you present the presenter to be fair I'll throw you things no day by root because I didn't the early years you have no I'm not on talkback I won't go on it I don't like people in my ear I don't like feet meet people feeding me stuff too much I just like a clear mind so I'm I'm a little bit nonplussed about what's going on generally and that's why sometimes when they're trying to kick me off and shove me up at the end of a show you'll see that regularly but no it's it's a brilliant show it's enthralling and I love it but it's the most demanding so what do you remember that first weekend and that first day leading up to the show we're going to get to some clips in a minute cuz I have heard some things about what you got up to a night before scaling Chizik maybe with some other production team and on the day rumor has it you were playing cricket with a proper cricket no helmet yeah yeah they have you doing these things sometimes on the day of your Skype Garbus League soft campus there and eyes are Worth and you do different things it how to fill your day I was so anxious I was so nervous didn't know what was going to happen I knew this was one of I knew this was a big moment in my life you know like a debut really for you know my club or my youth team when I was younger and I knew that it would define me in terms of my confidence my belief I knew that people waiting to judge me I felt confident a sense that I can speak but I just knew that there was so many different aspects to what I was going to be asked to do that I'd never done it before when you've got done something before you know you're really sort of hoping that things go well rather than knowing it's going to go well and we did stage is it the night before it was quite young it was a very young you know what would be team really director producer ed never done Monday Night Football before in the way in which we're going to do it I've never done it before there was a lot of nervousness within the sky about how this was going to go there was a lot of anxiety about how it would be received just generally it was a real edgy time and I felt edgy going into the show by the fact that you know I remember when the show started I had the driest mouth in the world I just literally licking my lips every ten seconds and the only other time I've ever had that was in the first game of Euro 96 when I just again felt that sort of great anxiety and sort of level of nerves it's the biggest thing that was 20 years of age playing in a major tournament at home soil the build-up to it was immense and it was just so big in my life and that's actually probably the two times in my life back and remember being sort of what would be you have a dry mouth almost shaking feeling that this is a really big moment okay we're going to get to the dry mouth in a second but firstly should we run that first clip and you can reflect on it once we've seen it this is how M&F went on it [Music] the champions are in the groove Arsenal Chelsea Liverpool all held this weekend's the Gunners lost their captain today we'll hear from arson finger no home win in the Premier League so far Manchester City will look to put that right against the new voice Swansea this evening tonight it's all about the Premier League Manchester City against Swansea live in high-definition sky 3d and on the move wherever you are with Sky Go Go the big news today who about Cesc fàbregas who's joined Barcelona do you fear now for Arsenal no I don't fear for us I think big players do leave clubs at times happens through history and you know what an opportunity for our Rams the other young players an Arsenal squad it won't panic are some anger absolutely sure about that it was inevitable that fàbregas was going to leave its me on the card for 12 months and I don't think we should be surprised today thoughts seven-hour 10 I think that's a pretty solid start I mean I had rehearsed that answer so many times before the I mean now just to give you an idea that in the early days we would rehearse quite a bit what was gonna happen in that first hour now we would you know me and Carrie ger won't even tell each other what our analysis is will sort of bounce off each other riff off each other if you like I don't want to know what the first questions gonna be I always say on people say do you know what the questions would have been interview generally I don't want to know because what what Scott Melvin and Duncan East taught me at Sky was the spontaneity and reacting to a question is what real live television is and that's where we've got to the point now where after probably 6 to 8 months I started to get comfortable around being in live television and if you over prepare it can look too staged and there are elements of the analysis you after stage but that start to me was well rehearsed if that went wrong then I really would have panicked but you could have it I think my tongue had already started to appear actually of my lips at that point after one question who is in charge of you look honestly no animal eye so I distinct me about at Manchester United about the fact that I wouldn't cut my hair if we were on a run and I always felt that it should be substance over style and I took that into really and I was taking it on to this day you know with regard with regards to how I see I genuinely think it's really important what comes out of your mouth about how you perform at football I've never really thought that to fair how he looks important and sky really tried to work the other wardrobe department and I remember the I remember the lady that worked in that department trying to sort of get me to take me to shops in London to trying at the right suits and the right sort of outfits and I I actually I think carefully listen I know I had to kept for five years her texts to me the day after the first show as Jay Garrick and I please ask that you don't wear a light gray suits again on Sky Sports do you stick to quite dark sea it was horrific that suit I mean it's that it started to look like I've been dragged through a hedge by about ten ten o'clock at night my hair was everywhere I was unshaven a suit from the bat looked like it had just been like been rolling around on the floor and it was just an all-around - affair a really bad look but actually part of me didn't mind that in some ways I didn't feel I don't feel it's important in terms of sort of the delivery of the show I get it more that you know you sort of you know you have to look smart he tires to be done up and the directors and they all the associate directors in the back they're always saying to me Gary just adjust your tire we just pull your suit we just saw your hair out I mean all the time and it just used the bore me to be honest with you and I just used to sort of get wound up by it but it was a really bad look that first show me was terrible okay so the first game you thought probably looked at was from that weekend Liverpool won Sunderland one we have a little look now and just maybe spot the deliberate mistakes that you made if you sungl in that you look at that I think they're reasonably happy there they've got a good back line they're trying to keep it high but the problem occurs just in here I think it's young John Cole that they ease the shield player he's a play that you know anything that goes in this area here he's got to be stopping that going in that area I think the problem just accursed young John Cole but maybe not played not this too many times for just doesn't go back in right who's John Cole back mistake some names you watching that many clips all day that be different things I mean that's such basic punditry not such basic analysis that you think to yourself no it's embarrassing really but you look at something like that and you get the name wrong you would ordinarily have someone coming in your ear and say Gary he's not called John but it didn't quite after that time I actually once called El Mohammadi at at Aston Villa Stephen Island I mean seriously no word of a lie there's some horrific things over the years but you can get away with ever just something job what what the director and the producer taught me at that time was when I used to make a mistake whether it be the technology or a bit of name they used to like it and that sounds really crazy obviously you can't make too many mistakes but what they used to say to me was be clear it's live television if you make a mistake or take a clip too far or you just put the arrow in the wrong position and you have to cancel it and go back and do it again that demonstrates authenticity to people at home that you're doing it live that you're at to doing something that means it's not perfect and actually takes you about six to eight months a year probably of my time Monday Night Football to get used to that thing that actually what you're really talking about in television is understanding that your mistakes you're gonna make it's how you deal with mistakes it's the same in football your mistake management in football it's really important how do you recover from mistake quickly so how to get out of a bad piece of analysis or a wrong word or you know you put them the wrong with the arrow in the wrong position that's that's the comfort and the experience and the calmness in composure and temperament that you work on I didn't have that in that first show I wasn't able to take messages in my head correct me if it corrected me I like reading under other panics and so I think they just let me carry on going and just basically down the road I remember Martin Taylor saying something very similar to me actually said stop worrying about mistakes because you'll definitely make them and it's all about what you do next is all about the recovery the mistakes are gonna happen and whether you look good or you look silly will be all be about how you react next yeah and I think that's the way we you get to a level of experience where actually a mistake can be quite funny and that's where I think we've got to now you're Dave you know Cara and myself doing the show if one of us makes a mistake you live with one of the others chuckle and that actually to be fair that makes it something that is a positive I know it sounds crazy but you can make a mistake and one of the others can sort of say something and then all of a sudden you got interaction a little bit of you know humor occurs and out of something that is actually you know you would have been a real when Kerrigan first came in his first six months I could have really stitched him up I mean I could have had him good and proper you know little things like just touching the screen when we're standing up so that eases and his screen doesn't work because obviously one of us touches the screen the others doesn't work and I thought long and hard about whether to do it but I let him have six months of not doing it and just thought sort of let him easiest way in but you can really have some fun around those types of things that can create humor but you've got to you've got to feel composure and experience before you can get to that stage so I mean you said you didn't stitch him up for six months well I had the juice from that is since then you've been stitching regularly no I think he tries to sit me up more regularly to be honest with you I don't think I'm pretty straight I don't I don't go down them the mess along do but you know you just know that nowadays you're pretty comfortable that whatever comes your way on the live show you can handle I mean we we had some incredible experiences in that first year you know that the agüero goal I was in the stadium at City when I'm obviously a massive Manchester United fan it's horrific experience for me to have to go through but trust to retain your composure with that the Vincent Kompany so love is accompanied the year the Monday Night Football where Vincent Kompany scored a couple years later I always remember the tragic day being in the studio at Anfield when Gary Speed passed away and that was a rig that was a completely different experience with Graeme Souness and with Edie Chamberlain but all these experiences where you've got to deliver in different types of scenarios they really do help you become more rounded and understand that you know you are broadcasting to football fans and you have a great responsibility of what you say and it's just about those how you handle those different experiences and say you have to adapt different different methodologies for each different type of event that happens you're talking there about your old sparring partner Jamie Carragher and I don't if you remember but after they all scored sons and equalized and you actually analyzed Jamie's role in someone's go so we'll have a little look at that now just take it forward a little bit you see Jamie Carragher start ball starts to come in there and we're talking about a very experienced defender his body position Sidon is closed he's not letting anybody run it sit in Congress that's the right way to be it that's absolutely the right way to be make sure that you play inside his pants you can't get you can't get anyway you can't move in contrast as a young young young planning I felt for him a little bit because I mean I played fullback played there for many many years and I've been there when that ball starts to say log it and he just gets a little bit close to the play just you know a little bit you know she's his body position wrong yeah just a little bit close the play should be a little bit more side on to the game it was yeah I always wanted to bring in one of the things I said that I'll do in the early days was try and use football phrases where they belong so you know get close to people get inside his pants I mean I wouldn't use it now I don't think but I come out of no no come out of a changing that's a yeah I remember saying things like bingo time and started using food analogies a lot and things like that in my early days because I wanted to sort of develop a character of what I am and what I was speak normally probably to be fair don't use as much of those things now but I did I was quite complimentary of Cara there but you could see there I was trying to get on that John the Flanagan's body position was wrong and he wasn't side on Eden obviously watched me during the day and Edie says yes so he's probably just well he's helping me there and he's almost guided me to the line that I need to deliver because I've not got it out I'm obviously not delivering it in such a sane manner and that's where I think Edie was really good for me in those early days in the sense that he was obviously trying to guide me to the right lines the correct lines that I needed to deliver it was more him if you think about it I was almost like a cold pilot he was definitely the pilot and I think probably six to eight months in I started to sort of if you like influenced the editorial a little bit more influence how we delivered it a little bit more but in those early days I couldn't have done it without him okay so you've mentioned a few time the nerves and the dry mouth and whatever is going on with your tongue and I've put together four little megamix for you have a look we do want to see passion the premiere that's what makes it a great League we grab the negative from a positive for himself reaiiy think that's what he'll be disappointed we by getting involved with Gervinho the movement the types of goals God was fantastic with Adam Smith then when he said a star is born absolutely I mean he can continue to play like that city got a player sixty seventy minutes teams of faith a little bit but there's been enough there to show that you know in the coming weeks left some exciting football it's like a ship as well honestly that was a big thing in the early days and if you notice now people probably won't notice because it just happens naturally I did not know what to do my hands so my hands were everywhere I was I was literally swaying from side to side I didn't know what to do and it's just purely being completely out of my comfort zone and what if you notice now I'm gonna never I always carry it a pen with me so I always have something in my hand just it's like a comfort blanket for me even to this day sort of eight nine ten years in on Monday night at football it's the only show but I'll have something in my hand just to guide me through and give me that sort of settling and it was something that I think I can remember it was will Greenwood gave me a little bit advice in the early days and I think a couple of others just said look yeah yeah pundit rubra player will Greenwood I think he said stop saying certain things the director and producer would tell him he got to do certain things stop licking your lips food forgot this it became a habit in the end and I always I can't be what it was there were two words that I used to say all the time and I can't remember what they were I may come back to me in a boom but somebody said to me just just put a pen in your hand just put something in your hand it'll carry me down you lost something just to hold and twiddle with a mess with so yeah I mean it's a mess when you look real I mean how bad slack so how did you become aware of the tongue thing is that just I don't know how big Twitter was then or whether you run it but because I mean we had quite a direct producer than movies he's saying Gary what are you doing or is it picking it up from others what happens there was that there was definitely a there's definitely a post-mortem the day after in terms of sort of understanding the show what had done right what I hadn't them right how we could improve it and there were certain things that I had to get better I had to stop basically sticking my tongue out and mouth and trying to yeah get my lips with some I mean I'm such a dry mouth I decide to sort of address sense how I can't even what the two things were that kept saying all the time just throwing those maybe he'll play me more clips and maybe I'll say then I'll remember but there's certain things I had to basically with no Knowles and have to stop doing and the producer was very direct that the director less so but was more guidance particularly around appearance and things that I was doing but yeah it was it was a I remember at the end of the I remember at the end of the shell being absolutely done in just feeling absolutely done in just my head a I've had aches I didn't know what had happened it just felt like a blur a complete blur and I've not really got any strength in my voice either there's if you look if you listen to me speaking that feel quite sound quite weak and quite nervous I agree there is more Authority with you now he's not just confident what is that he's just confidence in just over many years obviously doing interviews getting better at it what I would say is you lose a bit have you wronged us which is good those early days I was raw I was willing to say anything and everything because I just come out of a dressing room but just one you know eight Premier League titles I felt unbeatable the game was so close to me everybody that I played with on the pitch I felt like I could talk about and I did still to this day but it's very different when you're ten years out of the game you do feel slightly more removed from it but you feel more polished as a broadcaster and the presenter are abundant whenever it is you doing but you feel less raw unless you know that aggressive and in those early days I was really keen to sort of you know have a go at it and it's a bit of a balance really but you ride it was a vice was a little weak wasn't as confident as I should have been but it was my first time and we were nervous I was nervous the whole of sky I think we're anxious about what was going to happen was it hard analysing United in those early days because it was still Sir Alex and because you were so close was that was there was there a trick to that when you knew the people so well a little bit but it not as bad because they were still successful they were still playing well they're still vying for league titles so you were having to comment comment on them in a positive way most at the time I think the real problem started to occur when David Moyes took over Louie bangle and all of a sudden the club started to obviously falter in its performance levels and it became really difficult because she's still there new some of the lads at the club you know gigs are still there under David Moyes and Deliver van Gaal but brother was there acts as a coach under David Moyes it becomes a little bit more difficult than because you're looking at it but the one thing that I always pride myself on and people will believe me are not believing I don't really care I never once ring anybody up in the dressing room and ask for the team I never once ring anybody vascular tactics I never ring anybody up and say what's he thinking they're doing this weekend I never do that so I was never conflicted to the level that people imagined that were I was by asking for the what man unite his team was before a derby are asking for I didn't compromise myself or the people who I work with it's guy in any way shape or from all but the people that I knew at football clubs in a really difficult position where they were telling me stuff that they might then think I could go on television I never once did that and I'm proud of that to this day and even to this day I don't ring up and I know it's important for the commentators to try and get some insight into what the teams are because they're preparing a lot of their you know detail that they're gonna speak about in the game around what formations and what players are playing but for me as falls in some ways once I got used to this reactive manner of well let's see what the team's I won't be able to react off the back of it which was the sky mentality I I got comfortable with that I didn't really feel like I needed to go and push people in the game and and and delve into it so when I came to commentate on them from a negative point of view I wasn't looking for favor in any way shape or form because I've not gone to them before the game and asked them for favor and I felt I felt good about that I still feel good about that okay right well get to the game itself because it was big for a few different reasons actually it was Sergio agüero debut it was swansea debut in the Premier League and yeah maybe a little bit of a changing of the guard match the city delivered the performance of that opening weekend let's look at it and then we'll get you Manchester City after what's happened this weekend United of one other side's potential title rivals have drop points they got a chance to put a marker down have no they have and it's you know they would probably win the seal I saw the fix just come out with thoughts of great start for us and swansea love different ideas but I think if you - the city it's all about how many yeah I'm the goals you the sports that they're fans will be expecting to win this game comfortably when where I scored that final goal Gary Neville here in the studio simply said wow that's um Deb you go it wasn't in Roberto munchies said was father came he wasn't you know in full I wasn't full of fit then what an impact will show I think five clips to him scoring different types ago before the game is until agree t I was only thirty minutes we could have quite a partnership with David silver good me they're going to enjoy play with each of the intelligent quick he look like it in a long-range shot he showed the full repertoire second half and know what impacts the Premier League and kept the by things it's got a hat-trick there's actually he doesn't look like he's broken sweat so going maybe not that Pleasant for you as a former United player but was that the night where city complete the jigsaw was the first time we'd seen agüero over here and it was suddenly right okay they're the best team now it was a big moment because you knew they'd signed someone that was world class there's a big build-up to it before the game we did a lot on it as well and obviously when he scores me what you asked for when you're in television and you're doing the show you asked for this you asked for a story don't you you want a story at the end of the game you got something to have happened I personally didn't want city to win but when they do win and you see something like that when you see David Silva play football or Sergio agüero play football just forget club rivalries for one second you can't you can't not like it it's brilliant to watch and when you see goals like he scored they're avid Silda playing with him you know it's absolutely brilliant and I think from that moment on your new city were going to be serious they were getting closer to United anyway year on year and it was just a case of you know what point would the caps bunch united up because of the investments they were making and it saves only a matter of time so having seen city win you then got to grill Roberto and she need you remember this Roberto Gary Neville I never thought about I never thought you'd be interviewed by me okay you must be really excited about Sergio agüero and the link play the show between David silver and him was really exceptional tonight yeah but they played the same languages I think that they are both fantastic player they play football very very well but we played only the first the first match I think that the season will be very long but was really important to start the season ladies thanks for time Roberto congratulations on tonight's performance thank you thank you very much I'm principal strange congratulate him oh my god to this day the producer did that show he always couldn't let everybody speaks me or try to be too clever forget it honestly to this day without this day I'm okay now I think but probably for about four or five years doing that show I always said the part that I hated the most was the interview with the player or the manager at the end where they always wanted me to get involved and ask a question and I used to say well I'm gonna minute I made to give analysis I'm here to talk about answer questions I'm not here to ask questions but they always pushed me to ask questions and they pushed me on that first night to ask a question for no real reason because obviously it was the absolute mess I mean you should go ask for a pay rise off the back of that but no since that point in the last few years I feel comfortable with it Friday Night Football but this of the different shows that we're doing now even like the football show during this period you know I'm more comfortable asking questions reacting of what people say but again it's just that level of experience and that is just embarrassing that I mean I Roberta I mean that very accent came out and everything that's like oh no was it more nerve-wracking because there had been a bit history city and renting it and they were mainly around that am i right click the : cut which can cut them wasn't it it was a man that semi-final yeah even tethers and all that yeah well I was you know I was like during my career you know that stammers went from United as far as I'm concerned it's like treachery it's you don't do that and so I was always gonna have sort of a you know do with him I wore looking from the state fans when Michael Owen scored in the last minute I think a few months before and so the novice of that thing between night in city and that rivalry it was you know the rivalry was getting bigger and bigger so yeah it took to interview the manchester city manager in your first Monday Night Football and to have to actually speak to him and get words out massively uncomfortable experience for me even to this day there are certain things that I found really difficult to do you know because of my tie ste knighted there are certain things that I think nuts step too far I can't do that but then I'll repair the time you see that everybody else is doing it you have to ask questions you have to do you know we were there to your ultimately ask questions deliver analysis and you have to put yourself in those positions but it's not so always it's not always comfortable have you been able at any stage in your in your sky role obviously there's the big United part of you that will always be there but have since you've been a pundit we've seen great Man City teams and we've now got a great Liverpool team have you been able to appreciate them on any level really no I appreciate from a football point of view but I think through my playing career I appreciated the Joel same radial Chelsea team or the Arsenal teams we used to play against used to watch them play and maybe enjoy it because they were rivals but you'd appreciate great football the Barcelona teams or Bayern Munich when were playing against them used to love the Aventis team in the late 90s absolutely brilliant team with Del Piero and Zidane all those great players and you know you always appreciate as a football person another great team to watch and you can't get away from that I don't like it I'd ever want them to win a game of football in my life but you do you do learn to appreciate the football because you always appreciate good football irrespective of who you support you just don't like it obviously if their arrival and what's the reaction I mean from that first baby bit right through to now been like from supporters on one hand I suppose you've got United fans and I bear said the way the world is you get the odd accusation of not being loyal and on the other hand one thing I do see a lot from Liverpool fan City fans from any other fan really is towards you I hated you as a player but I love yous upon that you get a lot of that I know it's honestly mad you can come out of a game munch United vs. Liverpool where Liverpool fans can be accusing your bias and United fans can be accusing you have been too hard on your team because you're trying too hard to sort of be neutral you can have the same opinions with it so different opinions within the same game and that's happened constantly for ten years that's just social media because people people remember the one negative comment that you make all the time they remember the negative it's it's a true story this you can say a hundred positive things but the one negative will mean that people will views being negative against their club and it's the same week in week out there have been many times I've learned I've learnt to sort of get used to it really you know fundamentally I want man United to win every single football match that I watch them play I want to score twenty goals every match I want them to win every single league but if they play terribly which at times obviously over the last five six seven years they have done then you know the Munchie ninety fans themselves are walking out the stadium ten minutes before the end of the game you can't sit you can't sit there in a sort of commentary box and say it was really good today they were unlucky because people just see right through that on the other hand if Liverpool play badly or affluent people play well or City play well or badly or Astle you better say it as it is and over a 10-year period I try and be as fair as I possibly can sometimes you don't always get the right tone and sometimes you don't always use the right words and sometimes you don't always get the right sort of balance but you tried to I think people generally recognize that I've tried to were always be fair - whether it be my club or whether it be the other clubs the problem is over the last five six seven years it's been a really bad time for Manchester United so you know when the club spends you know nearly a billion pounds over seven years and then they are fifth sixth seventh in the league and the highest you know paying Club in the league in terms of salaries this year or whatever it might be you've got to sort of put that into context whereas if sort of Burnley are having the season that they're having and they've got a budget that you saw much less you've gotta be really praise them and sort of be you know appreciative of what they're doing so you always try and be fair across the whole league understanding that when you're in football and that was the same when I was in the dressing room and the same when I was a coach you always think everybody's got something against you all I would ever say is that coming to the studio spend some time there and you'll realize that people are carrying bender's before they go into a game and if Joe's in Mourinho actually summed it up quite nicely when he worked with us this season that he came into the studio at the very beginning to understand what made us tick what the made the media ticket I think he realized after four or five months that no one's got preconceived ideas of what they're going to say about a team before a match has happened in that if the team plays well they will really appreciate that performance and all the people in the studio that we have the pundits in the studio will I think adopt that approach so I think that ultimate when you're in the game and you so sensitive to what everyone's saying to a level of paranoia particularly for a football manager where you're really thinking about what everyone's saying all the time and what people think of you and what people say about your team selection or your tactics are you substitutions the fans are saying on social media we start to get into that sort of world which sometimes football players can I did at times and sometimes as coaches you really can be viewed as being unfair when actually you're not you just being honest about it and unemotional and just cold and that sometimes can hurt that's where I think sometimes the divide comes between maybe broadcast or media and football that I witness that from from all sides okay let's now see how a beleaguered Gary Neville finished his NF debut only weekend then Gary some what do we learn this weekend the monday night football stuff for Gary never like a West problem our season yeah feel worse than at West Brom last hey listen don't you go and retire in the morning by yourself we want you back I feel worse than at West problem our season honestly that was I think it was a really important moment because it demonstrates the level of humility in some ways that I found you really tough I was nervous I was felt like it was a slug a Marilyn that was never going to end I've ever run a marathon and at the end of it I was just so relieved to get to the end of it it felt like a an event rather than just a simple television program and at the end of a it was so hard that it was so hard to just to maintain that sort of concentration all the way through and yeah I'll just honest at the end and I think ultimately that's what I've tried to be right the way through I'm willing i football you being honest as you possibly can be and that show yeah people probably don't remember it I don't even remember parts of that analysis and some of the stuff that you show me remember that bit there that you show them at the end I remember the Roberto munching like it gets replayed to be backed by people in the sky off what's happening but you know I it was it was the first step in obviously a journey that's still going it's the best show that you can ever do it's the most demanding show you can ever do and still to this day I think it's important that that show as innovation it changes it adapts it moves fall it does different things it sees the game in a different way analyze the game the more granular fashion there may be a normal highlights program mode and that's what the M&F does you said it starts in 1992 I've never pretended for one second that's my show I just be off for that four five six year period when I was doing it on my own and I felt that it became something that I absolutely loved but now Jamie's taking it on I still do some shows with him and I feel as though it's still off at the the best show on television it's a really rewarding show to do as well lastly then what would you say about and you've touched on it there but the progress of the show since particularly this of the Nevin camera thing that partnership that was hit on thinking two years by yourself then he retired why do you think that's worked so well and why is that taking it maybe to another level again I was adamant from day one before they even sort of established myself that whatever happened that if a couple years in it had to evolve and change maybe it was some experience that United where so Alex had stayed the same but the coach is underneath him changed every three or four years and there was that variation I felt like the show was never going to change so we had to do different things within it we had to take risks and I felt as though it was important to bringing Jamie when he finished his career I don't think a few years after that when I stepped away from it and said look I think you should bring guests in you know I actually wanted that to happen I felt as though I'd taken it as far as I could in terms of that partnership with Kara on know what would be every week basis and I think some of the best shows that I've seen have been with Jurgen Klopp with Wayne Rooney and with Kara they're absolutely amazing show sometimes you get guest so it doesn't quite work but I think now maybe Monday Night Football is ready for that next step again to innovate again and go in a different direction we know how you know fan behaviour changing we know how basically football sports science data is changing the minds of football players and football coaches and we've always got to try and be what what amazed me actually in the first few years was the sky me at sky as a an analyst had access to better information and stats and camera angles than the club's now I think it's obviously caught up that all the clubs up their own cameras all the way around the ground but at the time I was dealing with camera angles analysis that also when the clubs couldn't deliver themselves because then have the ability to fund all that sort of stuff ah they didn't think about it in that way wasn't as important but I look at it now and I think Monday Night Football needs to go into that next level and obviously we've tried the sort of a headset stuff the you know the song that the 3d stuff and all different types of technology you've got to make sure that what you do delivers some value in the niche relevant caps do it for the sake of doing it but I feel like it could go on another another step and football should always think to be at the forefront of television analysis and I think it does that whether it's by the individuals or whether it's by the technology and whether it's by the way in which the game show on the Monday night just very different this its way in which it's delivered by it's abrasive brilliant shine I think it needs to continue to challenge itself and push itself and do different things because it's it should set risks before we go then have you found looking back at it that first game was it better or worse than you thought or feared a little bit so that I can see you can just see it's a young inexperienced pundit trying to establish himself a little bit lacking in authority nervous dry mouth bobbing around like a cork you know it I just think that all that whether a member of it was that maybe it's not as bad as I thought that suit doesn't look as bad as the one that Kara sends through sometimes on the pictures when you trying to take the mickey out on social media no I remember it pretty much as it was just thinking that you know I need to improve a lot it was so hard for me but it was a big first step in my new life you know when you've been at Manchester United like I had for 20 years and you'd nailed you call us through the mass like I had and you thought you're never gonna leave the club was a big step for me to leave Manchester United and to go and do what I did was a big risk for me at that moment in time people may not remember it now but there was certainly great doubts as I mentioned before about the impartiality of me and whether I could deliver analysis on a fair basis and that was a big first moment in that I wasn't supposed to do that show I didn't want to do that show I was never signed up to do Monday Night Football but it actually was the thing that I think defined my pondichery career in the early years and the neighborhood so well sort of these last 10 years at Sky which I've had Gary thank you very much you survived Thank You Patrick

Channel: Sky Sports Football

Views: 1,337,943

Rating: 4.9048476 out of 5

Keywords: sky sports, premier league, Football League, football, Sky Sports live, Sky, Sports, stream, sky sports football, premier league highlights, epl other 1920, neville, mnf, carra, carragher, lampard, man utd, aguero, man city, mancini

Id: pn7x3OL92tI

Length: 47min 0sec (2820 seconds)

Published: Tue May 19 2020