Matt Le Tissier believes Gary Neville’s comments on division in the UK were ‘a bit strange’ but cannot see him losing his job at Sky Sports over them.
Neville posted a monologue on LinkedIn on Friday, the day after the synagogue attack in Manchester, which left two victims dead.
The Manchester United legend said that ‘we’re all being turned on each other. The division that’s being created is absolutely disgusting. Mainly created by angry middle-aged white men who know exactly what they are doing.’
This was having seen ’50 or 60′ Union flags in north Manchester, which he feels are being used ‘in a negative fashion.’
The former England defender and current Sky Sports pundit said he pulled down a Union flag from one of his development sites last week.
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Neville ended the video by saying: ‘All these idiots that are out there, spreading hate speech, in any form and abuse in any form, we must stop promoting them.
‘It needs to stop now and get back to a country of love, of peace, of harmony and become a team again.’
Former England and Southampton star Le Tissier would not be on the same side of political spectrum as Neville, but feels that will be of benefit to the Manchester United hero, who has come in for criticism for his comments.
‘He’s basically attacked the demographic of people that are paying his wages, which is a bit strange,’ Le Tissier told students at Southampton Solent University.
‘I think it depends on what side of the argument you fall on and whether your side of the argument suits the agenda of the current media.
‘Which I think, you know, for the large part is very left leaning, so if you’re slightly right leaning you won’t be given the good graces to make mistakes other people will be given.’
Le Tissier pointed out that Neville’s Sky Sports colleague Jamie Carragher did not lose his job after a 2018 incident which saw the former Liverpool man spitting at a car which had a 14-year-old girl in.
‘Yeah, I think they’ll stand by him and support him, yeah,’ Le Tissier said.
‘I mean, they stood by Jamie Carragher when he spat at a young girl out of the back of his car.
‘It is not quite as bad as that, so I think Gary’s got a pretty fair argument there if they try and get rid of him.’
Le Tissier added on X, where he has a conspiratorial edge: ‘Watch the media go after Gary Neville after his video………. Oh no, he’s in the WEF club so they’ll leave him alone. 😉’
What did Gary Neville say?
Neville said he had left his home on Friday morning to ’50 or 60′ Union flags in north Manchester, which prompted him to speak out on social media.
‘I just kept thinking as I was driving home last night that we’re all being turned on each other,’ he said.
‘The division that’s being created is absolutely disgusting. Mainly created by angry middle-aged white men who know exactly what they are doing.
‘Funnily enough on one of my development sites last week there was a Union Jack flag put up and I took it down instantly.
‘Some people might be watching this and thinking, “Gary that’s not very patriotic.”
‘I played for my country 85 times. I love my country. I love Manchester. I love England. But I’ve been building in this city for 15, 20 years, and there’s no one put a Union Jack flag up, so why do you need to put one up now?
‘Quite clearly, it’s sending a message to everybody that there’s something you don’t like. Union Jack flag being used in a negative fashion is not right.
‘I’m a proud supporter of England, Great Britain, of our country and will champion it anywhere in the world as being one of the greatest places to live.
‘But I think we need to check ourselves and start to think about bringing ourselves back to a neutral point, because we’re being pulled right and left and we don’t need to be pulled right and left, at all.
‘I’ve always said about I’ve played in a football team with a group of people from Manchester, Ireland, Wales, Scotland. But also people from Africa, Asia, America, Europe and we were a beautiful team, united as one.
‘Brexit has had a devastating impact on this country and the messaging is getting extremely dangerous.
‘All these idiots that are out there, spreading hate speech, in any form and abuse in any form, we must stop promoting them.
‘It needs to stop now and get back to a country of love, of peace, of harmony and become a team again.’
from: elfutbolero.us