Gary Neville apologises for his commentary during Premier League fixture

Gary Neville apologises for his commentary during the Premier League fixture between Manchester United and Burnley at Turf Moor.

The Sky Sports pundit took to Twitter on Tuesday night to say sorry for what he said during Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor.

He was on co-commentary for the match that the Red Devils managed to win thanks to a second half strike from Paul Pogba, which saw them go top of the Premier League table.

However Gary Neville appeared to make the wrong call on a few contentious moments during the game, prompting him to offer an apology to viewers.

‘Apologies for the commentary tonight,’ Neville said. ‘Stockley park all over the place, producer in my ear saying Salford have scored in the 92min and United gone top of the league ! Delirious ! I will be better Sunday.’  

Harry Maguire saw his back post header ruled out for a foul on Erik Pieters – an incident that Peter Crouch claimed on Twitter would have cancelled out the majority of his 108 league goals had it applied to him.

Contact looked minimal, but Neville said on commentary: ‘Maybe it’s the arm on the back of the head. Maybe it’s the elbow in the back, he’s using it as you ordinarily would do for leverage.’

United left-back Luke Shaw was in hot water at one stage of the game, with VAR running the rule over a challenge on Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

‘I think it’s a foul definitely by Luke Shaw because he misses the ball and then follows through,’ Neville said. 

‘I think he could be in trouble Luke Shaw looking at it again, because he actually puts his left leg out towards, but we’ll see.’

Shaw was let off by referee Kevin Friend, getting booked instead of sent off – but no matter the view on the punishment, it was clearly that Shaw made contact with the ball before catching Gudmundsson, despite what Neville said.

Late on in the game, there was controversy as Maguire was back in centre stage with VAR reviewing a potential handball in the penalty area. VAR looked at the incident and found Maguire had nothing to answer for.

Despite this, Neville said Maguire ‘could be in trouble here’, yet he wasn’t and it would have been a remarkably harsh penalty to concede.

Neville’s calls didn’t go unnoticed by a huge number of fans watching the game on Sky Sports, plenty of whom soon took to Twitter.

‘Looking at my timeline over the Neville commentary, who’d have ever thought I would have been pleased to be listening to Jim Beglin on NBC,’ one fan wrote.

Another said on Shaw’s challenge: ‘Normally enjoy Neville’s commentary but he’s annoyed me with that. Clearly took the ball. Follow through not great but ball first.’

One Twitter user called for Premier League broadcasters to remove ex-professionals from commentating on their former clubs.

‘Get Neville off of United commentary, Get Carragher off of Liverpool commentary,’ the user, called JamesAVFC, said. ‘Ruins the game. If you insist on it, do the same with every club. Gabby for Villa, Lee Hendrie etc.’

Criticism of Neville and Carragher continued, with another Twitter user saying: Interesting reading Gary Neville’s tweet tonight. 

‘I think he’s a brilliant pundit, him & Carragher are the best around but I’ve found him very difficult to listen to on commentary lately. Both seem to struggle to be objective when their own clubs are playing.’

Gary Neville, who partly owns Salford City, scored a 89th minute winner away to Scunthorpe United in the league on Tuesday night. They sit 5th in the League Two table.

On the pitch, everything is going rather sweet for Neville and his two teams, and now his attention turns to Sunday, when United take on Premier League holders Liverpool at Anfield in what should be a belter of a game.

He’s already getting in the mood for the game – as he shared a video of himself making his way out of Turf Moor on Tuesday night humming the song ‘Gary Neville is a red, he hates Scousers’. 

See ya Sunday 🤪 pic.twitter.com/2PcvZjbSPs

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) January 12, 2021

Fans reacted as Gary Neville apologises for his commentary during the Premier League fixture on Tuesday night…

Please can you stop describing every single defensive as “reckless” “lazy” or “clumsy”
And please stop making excuses for insane VAR decisions with bullshit statements like “slight touch” or “contact”. Call it out when its bullshit.

— Fans against VAR (@FansAgainstVAR_) January 12, 2021

@CheshireRed68: I know you are trying to be neutral Gary but every time you’ve commented on Utd you have come across as wanting every decision to go against us. Makes me question where your loyalties lie.

@jonotowers: Sky commentary is annoying, biased fan chat. I usually watch the game with radio commentary. You shouldn’t be commentating on Man United games in my opinion. Amazon coverage has been a breath of fresh air.

@BrianakaMawby: Why did you not see that Shaw touched the ball before the man? Thousands of fans would have been shouting at you getting it badly wrong. I understand the need for you to avoid appearing to favour Utd, but balance is a two way thing. Don’t over-compensate!

@ComradeDonJuan: Shaw got the ball first Gaz

@seanmorrisuk: Honestly, Neville was ridiculous tonight. Trying far too hard to be impartial.

@ParkinsonDean: Not good enough. Trying far too hard to not have rose tinted glasses on that you go far too much the other way. Tonight wasn’t a one off it’s every game. How could you not see shaw get a touch of the ball yet everyone else could.

@daved731: Starting to sound like Owen and McManaman. Getting worried about you.

@AFCAMDEN: Might as well stick @markgoldbridge on commentary and get him to sing United songs.

@FYOphotography: Thanks for your apology Gary but 1st half you were mostly wrong on everything you said, but at least you have held your hands up, keep it together for Sunday, but if a Liverpool player tackles or jumps for a ball I expect you to say Red card

@fionamusiclakes: You are so entitled to that distraction! I hope you’ve had a few beers! I’m celebrating for my daughter. Don’t take this the wrong way but she has been an Ole fan since he arrived at Utd in the 90s. He even danced with her at Fergie’s testimonial. She has waited forever for this!

@ST3Vl3: Luke Shaw one was a poor take mate, he did get the ball, he also followed through, that’s all that needed to be said. Enjoy the eve though, make sure Carra gets the Champers ready

@JoeDyson99: Just show your United colours for once… don’t be afraid of being biased on occasion, practically every other pundit/co-commentator shows bias towards their former team!

@apotheosis_b2: Gary thought you have turned over to the other side with the way you were saying things. Expect better from you. Any sane person with even cataracts in both eyes could see that Shaw got the ball first. We get that the ref was actively denying us. But et tu Gary??

@Isleptallday: It was after claiming Shaw didn’t touch the ball for the 20th then said they couldn’t actually see it from where he was and the angle being shown to them. Ref was crap, glad Pogba was brave enough to comment on him. Wolves mgr is right, he’s not good enough for premier league

@MrBuck89: How about not saying it should be a red card 10 times for Shaw when he obviously got the ball first. How could you not see that from the replays ?

@FrankyM85: Mate, you need to sort out your ‘impartiality syndrome’ nonsense. We get it, you’re trying to be professional but it’s not a good look Gary.

@JfunYFC: Same with Carra for us, they try to not get called biased so it makes them go the other way, they just shouldn’t be on the games who they support.

@iqqumufc: It was Embarrassing when you said shaw didn’t get the ball! He clearly did

@RizH0803: You were shocking tonight! Shaw got the ball and you said shaw didn’t get the ball lol! It’s okay to show your bias towards Man Utd

@Merson17: I was stuck to the edge of my sofa for an hour, you’re talking on national TV. Forgiven. That said, if you said “Luke Shaw could be in trouble here” once more, the TV was going through the window.