I had a feeling that television might be a future career path
for Gary Neville in 2002 when he had to miss out on England's trip to the World Cup finals in
Japan and Korea because of a broken foot. He would have been an
automatic choice for the right-back position.
ITV invited him to be a panellist and, as the presenter, I soon
realised that he could immediately be relied on to offer solid
opinions and informed comments.
I remember him being quite frank about playing for England,
which he described as being no pleasure because of the pressures.
Mind you he was able to withstand those particular rigours no fewer
than 85 times in his long and illustrious career.
Back then he had to be a little constrained in his opinions. He
had several years left to play alongside those on whom he was asked
to pass comment. It’s a different matter now.
His performances for Sky football shows this season have been
outstanding, in particular the Monday night programme when he has
an hour before kick-off to give us the benefit of his knowledge and
experience of the game. He’s got the hang of this punditry business
without doubt and in a relatively short space of time.
This week his analysis of Barcelona’s style of play and
particularly how brave they are in sticking to their principle of
short passing even when it had just resulted in giving away an
early goal, as it did against Real Madrid, was hugely informative,
a textbook piece of broadcasting.
He has already got Chelsea's Andre Villas-Boas hot under the
collar with his criticism of their Brazilian international
centre-back David Luiz. His real test will be when he has to say
something negative about Manchester
United and his old mentor Sir Alex Ferguson, but I have a
feeling he won’t duck it. He’s a terrific find for Sky and
followers of the game.