Gary Neville

The Siege said:
This video was honestly just a platform he gave specifically chosen Qatari representatives the chance to defend themselves against everything they're accused of. And you could argue that is a chance they deserve and he's given them that and fair play, but it is in no way a highlighting of their issues. There is a very calculated limited depth of facts spoken about across this entire video.

He wants to sit on the fence and make his money. And unfortunately he can't say that out loud. So he's going to have to eat a bit of shit till about January, and then the world will forget all about it.
Click to expand...

Well the programme covers gay rights, migrant workers, alcohol etc so absolutely it is highlighting the issues but its Sky Sports Overlap, not BBC Panorama so really cant expect much more than this. Still I think in actually visiting the worker camps (pretty depressing so hardly showing Qatar in a great light) that he does a half decent job at least.

From what Ive seen he's been pretty consistent in his views on the World Cup in Qatar for years - he's tended to go down the 'WC can bring positive change' road rather than scream about corruption, death etc so I dont know what he's ever said that now has him accused of hyprocrisy
 
Rood said:
He's already been there more than once to highlight the various issues in Qatar

Do some research next time before talking shite

Click to expand...

Okay he’s getting paid by Qatar so he can have a platform from which he can criticise Qatar. And I’m the one talking shite :rolleyes:
 
Rood said:
Well the programme covers gay rights, migrant workers, alcohol etc so absolutely it is highlighting the issues but its Sky Sports Overlap, not BBC Panorama so really cant expect much more than this. Still I think in actually visiting the worker camps (pretty depressing so hardly showing Qatar in a great light) that he does a half decent job at least.

From what Ive seen he's been pretty consistent in his views on the World Cup in Qatar for years - he's tended to go down the 'WC can bring positive change' road rather than scream about corruption, death etc so I dont know what he's ever said that now has him accused of hyprocrisy
Click to expand...

His hypocrisy lies in the sense that he never really questions everything that has gone wrong to make this World Cup happen, right from processes to award it to Qatar all the way down to the fact that you have to tell entire populations that 'hey, you can't be who you are, because human rights don't work that way here' and is that correct. He sort of just points out a couple of things others have said about Qatar, and says nothing of significance beyond that nor asks any uncomfortable questions, and it comes across as him having to shut up because he's effectively a paid PR agent for Qatar at this point, similar to Beckham. So when he bangs on about positive change, no one has a clue what he's talking about. It's not like Qatar's going to treat labour better, or treat LGBTQ+ people better, or make any significant cultural changes because there's a World Cup. So Gary Neville saying he 'talks about the challenges' isn't really a thing at all, and you're absolutely right that he's not going to talk about anything except the football when he's on broadcast, unless he has to do those tourism cuts in the break to say what a lovely place Qatar is to visit.
 
Rood said:
He's already been there more than once to highlight the various issues in Qatar

Do some research next time before talking shite

Click to expand...

Annoying YouTube voice aside this video does a good breakdown of why Gary Overlap Qatar was a lot of shite.

 
Anustart89 said:
He’s not going there to highlight issues you numpty. He’s taking money from a TV corporation run by the Qatari state to commentate on the football. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and just say that thinking that he does it to highlight issues is very naive. The more likely explanation is that he is in fact a massive hypocrite.
Click to expand...


Yep. He's full of shit.
 
There was a time I liked Gary, however I knew he wasn't as dull as he seemed on the pitch. And his after career TV job confirmed it, He is a business man after all, he owns hotel near old trafford along with scholes and his brother, and a few other properties in Manchester? This was told to me by an Old Trafford guide back in 2014.
What is he doing now, the promoting of Quatar 2022 is a classic example of how much he likes money. Unfortunately money changes character. I myself would have no reason to watch the world cup if Ronaldo wasn't playing in it. That is literally the only reason Iam going to watch the portugal matches.
 
There's every likelihood that after all this backlash, he will now be very vocally anti-Qatar in his first game commentating. The network will cancel his contract because there are almost certainly restrictions on what he's allowed mention, and he'll claim this was his intention all along, to make a high profile statement. Only we all know that wasn't his intention, he just wanted to take the money and get away with it.
 
The Siege said:
His hypocrisy lies in the sense that he never really questions everything that has gone wrong to make this World Cup happen, right from processes to award it to Qatar all the way down to the fact that you have to tell entire populations that 'hey, you can't be who you are, because human rights don't work that way here' and is that correct. He sort of just points out a couple of things others have said about Qatar, and says nothing of significance beyond that nor asks any uncomfortable questions, and it comes across as him having to shut up because he's effectively a paid PR agent for Qatar at this point, similar to Beckham. So when he bangs on about positive change, no one has a clue what he's talking about. It's not like Qatar's going to treat labour better, or treat LGBTQ+ people better, or make any significant cultural changes because there's a World Cup. So Gary Neville saying he 'talks about the challenges' isn't really a thing at all, and you're absolutely right that he's not going to talk about anything except the football when he's on broadcast, unless he has to do those tourism cuts in the break to say what a lovely place Qatar is to visit.
Click to expand...

Well that's because he has a different opinion on it to you and many others - if he had in the past denounced the Qatar WC, said it never should have happened etc and now all of a sudden changed his tune then I could understand claims of hypocrisy but he's never said anything of the sort and that goes back years

There are already examples of positive change that's happening in Qatar from improved workers rights to the first ever Qatari coming out as openly gay (all being discussed in more detail in the World Cup Forum already) so I disagree with you entirely
 
Anustart89 said:
He’s not going there to highlight issues you numpty. He’s taking money from a TV corporation run by the Qatari state to commentate on the football. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and just say that thinking that he does it to highlight issues is very naive. The more likely explanation is that he is in fact a massive hypocrite.
Click to expand...

Yep. He highlighted Qatar's grandiose hotel/shopping center complexes as much as he highlighted anything else.
 
Rood said:
Well that's because he has a different opinion on it to you and many others - if he had in the past denounced the Qatar WC, said it never should have happened etc and now all of a sudden changed his tune then I could understand claims of hypocrisy but he's never said anything of the sort and that goes back years

There are already examples of positive change that's happening in Qatar from improved workers rights to the first ever Qatari coming out as openly gay (all being discussed in more detail in the World Cup Forum already) so I disagree with you entirely
Click to expand...

I mean you can disagree with me all you want, but there are a depth of facts like a bunch of severely underpaid desperate migrant labour, whose basic liberties were taken (possession of passports and not being enabled to even afford a flight back home, so that they couldn't leave) were used to build the facilities that the world cup will be hosted in without even a guaranteed minimum wage, and we know this because it is honestly common knowledge in India. The labourer that Neville's talking to in that video is speaking in Hindi, and the labour mistreatment has honestly been a practice long before the world cup as well. Those aren't just opinions or inconsistent value systems separated by culture (for instance, alcohol surrounding behaviour totally is), Neville's not going to acknowledge the truly brutal details of the situation he's standing in, and nor will the Qatari citizen leaders he's talking to. It goes a lot beyond showing them living in a difficult dormitory structure that's just a minor discomfort relatively in their situation. And that's why the hypocrisy stabs are valid, because he's pretending Qatar are going to change things that they don't even admit are happening yet.

And also, I'm really glad that the changes that you've said are happening, and I'm sad that they weren't implemented while all the world cup facilities were being built. But humour the possibility that this is some return signalling to the world at a time when they're tremendously under scrutiny from the world. I stand completely in hope that you are right and I am wrong about this.
 
LouieVanGallsRedArmeh said:
There was a time I liked Gary, however I knew he wasn't as dull as he seemed on the pitch. And his after career TV job confirmed it, He is a business man after all, he owns hotel near old trafford along with scholes and his brother, and a few other properties in Manchester? This was told to me by an Old Trafford guide back in 2014.
What is he doing now, the promoting of Quatar 2022 is a classic example of how much he likes money. Unfortunately money changes character. I myself would have no reason to watch the world cup if Ronaldo wasn't playing in it. That is literally the only reason Iam going to watch the portugal matches.
Click to expand...

Oh so you liking Ronaldo puts all your big concerns with the whole thing to one side :lol:
 
People are obviously just catching up on his hypocrisy having missed his utterances about Bury and the ESL while helping pump millions into Salford.
 
Erics_Collar said:
There's every likelihood that after all this backlash, he will now be very vocally anti-Qatar in his first game commentating. The network will cancel his contract because there are almost certainly restrictions on what he's allowed mention, and he'll claim this was his intention all along, to make a high profile statement. Only we all know that wasn't his intention, he just wanted to take the money and get away with it.
Click to expand...

I'm expecting his stance to be it's actually quite nice here - future Dubai kind of thing and going over some things that need to be worked on.
 
The Siege said:
I mean you can disagree with me all you want, but there are a depth of facts like a bunch of severely underpaid desperate migrant labour, whose basic liberties were taken (possession of passports and not being enabled to even afford a flight back home, so that they couldn't leave) were used to build the facilities that the world cup will be hosted in without even a guaranteed minimum wage, and we know this because it is honestly common knowledge in India. The labourer that Neville's talking to in that video is speaking in Hindi, and the labour mistreatment has honestly been a practice long before the world cup as well. Those aren't just opinions or inconsistent value systems separated by culture (for instance, alcohol surrounding behaviour totally is), Neville's not going to acknowledge the truly brutal details of the situation he's standing in, and nor will the Qatari citizen leaders he's talking to. It goes a lot beyond showing them living in a difficult dormitory structure that's just a minor discomfort relatively in their situation. And that's why the hypocrisy stabs are valid, because he's pretending Qatar are going to change things that they don't even admit are happening yet.

And also, I'm really glad that the changes that you've said are happening, and I'm sad that they weren't implemented while all the world cup facilities were being built. But humour the possibility that this is some return signalling to the world at a time when they're tremendously under scrutiny from the world. I stand completely in hope that you are right and I am wrong about this.
Click to expand...

Dont worry Im fully aware of the awful conditions many migrant workers face in Qatar - the only question here is whether stuff like Neville going out there for the Overlap and the more general World Cup spotlight forces them to improve, there are some signs that it does but obviously there is still a huge amount that still needs to be done.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-60867042
 
youmeletsfly said:
People expecting him to work for either TV party and grill Qatar for their issues are out of their fecking minds.

On a more serious note, he's a hypocrite, like 99% of today's people. I really don't know why fans debate him so much.
Click to expand...

Agreed. He is a hypocrite. If he kept his views to himself, then he wouldn’t have had any of this backlash.

I find it amusing when people needlessly get themselves into these holes. The Just Stop Oil protestor who “welled up” whilst filming herself the other day strapped to an overhead gantry, drives a car that uses petrol. The (ex?) leader of Insulate Britain hasn’t insulated his own home. Emma Thompson flies over 5 thousand miles to join a climate protest. You couldn’t make it up really.

Politicians across the board are pretty much the same.

99% are hypocrites. Massive credit to the ones who aren’t, but otherwise, you’re best to wind your neck in.
 
Sweet Square said:
Annoying YouTube voice aside this video does a good breakdown of why Gary Overlap Qatar was a lot of shite.

Click to expand...


So annoying that I struggled to watch past first few mins - does he say anything apart from more details about the issues that Neville highlights?

As I said before, this is Sky Sports Overlap not BBC Panorama so would be silly to expect some kind of massive exposé
 
Calidad said:
Agreed. He is a hypocrite. If he kept his views to himself, then he wouldn’t have had any of this backlash.

I find it amusing when people needlessly get themselves into these holes. The Just Stop Oil protestor who “welled up” whilst filming herself the other day strapped to an overhead gantry, drives a car that uses petrol. The (ex?) leader of Insulate Britain hasn’t insulated his own home. Emma Thompson flies over 5 thousand miles to join a climate protest. You couldn’t make it up really.

Politicians across the board are pretty much the same.

99% are hypocrites. Massive credit to the ones who aren’t, but otherwise, you’re best to wind your neck in.
Click to expand...

So only people rich enough to own a house with a drive / enough money to buy an electric car should protest against oil . Maybe if we had good quality affordable public transport she could get by without a car.

People should only try to get the government to pay for insulation for the poorest in society if they can afford to have their own home well insulated ?.
 
Rood said:
So annoying that I struggled to watch past first few mins - does he say anything apart from more details about the issues that Neville highlights?

As I said before, this is Sky Sports Overlap not BBC Panorama so would be silly to expect some kind of massive exposé
Click to expand...
Gary interviews a player for the Qatar woman's football team and the show talk about how women football is developing in Qatar although somewhat slowly.

At no point is it mentioned the women team has played at best only a handful of games(Pretty sure the last game the Qatar women team played was November last year against Afghanistan). The player who is interviewed in the past has talked about how she would get beaten by her father for playing football, this isn’t mentioned in the Neville show.

When Neville wants to find out what life is like for western women living in Qatar(Which is just odd framing imo)he interviews someone who works the Qatar state media.

There’s tons of other examples in the video.
Rood said:
As I said before, this is Sky Sports Overlap not BBC Panorama so would be silly to expect some kind of massive exposé
Click to expand...
Tbf Pamorama is rubbish but really the it’s just the overlap so don’t expect basic journalistic standards is a shite answer to criticism.
 
Immigrant low paid labour has been treated terribly. Their working conditions are terrible. People packed like sardines and inhumane conditions in some places. This didn't start with the WC. Actually the WC highlight the issues and it has got a lot better. The bigger problem is what would happen after the WC. It's not only Qatar but the whole middle east treats the non white immigrant workers like shit.
But some of you having a go at everything in Qatar probably has never been to Qatar.
 
Oh you say you dislike slavery, yet you’ve never time traveled back to the confederate south

Thinking_Face_Emoji-Emoji-Island.png
 
Gycraig said:
So only people rich enough to own a house with a drive / enough money to buy an electric car should protest against oil . Maybe if we had good quality affordable public transport she could get by without a car.

People should only try to get the government to pay for insulation for the poorest in society if they can afford to have their own home well insulated ?.
Click to expand...

The logic applied by some people seems to amount to this: it's better that everyone just stops caring about global warming (or human rights, for that matter) because it's very likely that anyone doing so might fall into the "hypocrite" category for some reason or another.

And then...yes, what? Does the issue of global warming become less pressing because someone who brings it up happens to occasionally use a combustion engine? It's a juvenile "oh, gotcha there!" kind of reasoning (or lack thereof). Infuriating.
 
Gycraig said:
So only people rich enough to own a house with a drive / enough money to buy an electric car should protest against oil . Maybe if we had good quality affordable public transport she could get by without a car.

People should only try to get the government to pay for insulation for the poorest in society if they can afford to have their own home well insulated ?.
Click to expand...

The optics of someone of filming themself welling up and claiming their world is being destroyed because of oil, whilst driving a car that uses oil, is yes, rather hypocritical. There is a massive distinction between being environmentally conscious and concerned in the way we are reliant on fossil fuels and the former referenced.

You can raise awareness without going to the extreme lengths of severely disrupting members of the public trying to travel to work or go about their day. So yes, in these circumstances, people should definitely expect to be held to higher levels of scrutiny.

The same applies to Insulate Britain who adopted a similar approach. Although, since it was highlighted that the leader hadn’t actually insulated his own home, they appear to have become rather less conspicuous.

I am environmentally conscious. I volunteer when I can, including litter picking and previously, working on sustainable eco projects. I try to do my bit. I think that’s important. Yet, I would never claim to be a flag bearer or beyond reproach on my habits - far from it. But when someone puts themselves on a pedestal, then as we have seen, they’re liable to fall foul of critique - and rightly so.
 
Sweet Square said:
Tbf Pamorama is rubbish but really the it’s just the overlap so don’t expect basic journalistic standards is a shite answer to criticism.
Click to expand...

In case you havent noticed Gary Neville is a football pundit and not any kind of journalist, so I really have no idea what people are expecting from one 45mins episode of the Overlap, its entirely pointless to start listing all the things he didnt cover

In my opinion, he's already gone beyond his 'duty' by going out to Qatar and trying to highlight some of the issues with the World Cup - I dont see many others in the football community doing much apart from virtue signaling

Bizarre to me that he then gets criticism for actually going there and daft claims of hypocricy over going to commentate for BeIn - I might have missed it but Im yet to see anyone post anything he's ever said that is hyprocritical about this World Cup
 
Ugh I saw Jamie Carragher in Euston Station this morning. Ruined my day.

Gary may be a massive virtue signalling hypocrite, but he's our massive virtual signalling hypocrite.
 
Calidad said:
. But when someone puts themselves on a pedestal, then as we have seen, they’re liable to fall foul of critique - and rightly so.
Click to expand...
I don't know much about pedestals but clearly you've found a soapbox.
 
Rood said:
In case you havent noticed Gary Neville is a football pundit and not any kind of journalist, so I really have no idea what people are expecting from one 45mins episode of the Overlap, its entirely pointless to start listing all the things he didnt cover

In my opinion, he's already gone beyond his 'duty' by going out to Qatar and trying to highlight some of the issues with the World Cup - I dont see many others in the football community doing much apart from virtue signaling
Click to expand...
You can’t one minute say well Gary is just a moron/footballer and then give him credit for “highlighting” issues with the World Cup. If he has the ability to bring up criticisms of the Qatar World Cup then he also has the ability to not do a shite job of it(Which is the main criticism of his documentary).

Also we aren’t talking about not paying taxes or behind closed doors deal here. Gary is visiting football stadiums that would give Albert Speer wet dreams and he is praising(And getting paid) the fact these stadiums have a lower budget than Spurs new one(I wonder why Gary…….)


Rood said:
Bizarre to me that he then gets criticism for actually going there and daft claims of hypocricy over going to commentate for BeIn
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Calidad said:
I am environmentally conscious. I volunteer when I can, including litter picking and previously, working on sustainable eco projects. I try to do my bit. I think that’s important.
Click to expand...

Very commendable.

Calidad said:
Yet, I would never claim to be a flag bearer or beyond reproach on my habits - far from it.
Click to expand...

Flag bearers are the worst, no question about it.

Calidad said:
But when someone puts themselves on a pedestal, then as we have seen, they’re liable to fall foul of critique - and rightly so.
Click to expand...

Oh, yes. Those pedestal people are the worst (other than flag bearers, that is).
 
Chesterlestreet said:
Very commendable.



Flag bearers are the worst, no question about it.



Oh, yes. Those pedestal people are the worst (other than flag bearers, that is).
Click to expand...

Don’t be disingenuous.

It was in response to the comment, which gave the impression I was suggesting we should all stop caring about climate change for fear of being labelled a hypocrite, which was a misrepresentation of my point. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have mentioned it - nor do I make a habit of doing so with friends or family.

I do care about climate change, but I am not gluing myself to roads, blocking emergency vehicles or members of the public trying to get to work. It isn’t the right approach, and people who are complicit in this, should be held accountable (by the law and by people calling them out for their own climate ‘misdemeanours’).

G Neville is the same. An outspoken social justice warrior, yet happy to take money from the same Qatar regime he’s previously called out. It’s hypocrisy of the the highest order and he wouldn’t have had this backlash if he’d have kept quiet. Conversely, the decision not to keep quiet is a perfectly legitimate and sensible one - but then don’t take their money.
 
Last edited:
Sweet Square said:
You can’t one minute say well Gary is just a moron/footballer and then give him credit for “highlighting” issues with the World Cup. If he has the ability to bring up criticisms of the Qatar World Cup then he also has the ability to not do a shite job of it(Which is the main criticism of his documentary).

Also we aren’t talking about not paying taxes or behind closed doors deal here. Gary is visiting football stadiums that would give Albert Speer wet dreams and he is praising(And getting paid) the fact these stadiums have a lower budget than Spurs new one(I wonder why Gary…….)



Click to expand...


Well I dont agree that he did a shite job of it but of course people are entitled to their opinion.
On the subject of cheap labour he did go to the worker camps and challenged the company manager about the conditions and how much workers were getting paid, anyone expecting anymore than that from the Overlap is deluded.

Hislop says he could stay at home at talk about the issues but thats the epitome of virtue signalling as far as Im concerned - actually going to Qatar to see first hand whats going on and talk to the people in charge of making decisions is far more worthwhile in my eyes
 
I think it's perfectly fair to criticise him for being a hypocrite when he's going over there to work as a pundit/commentator. If he were travelling over there to film a documentary on the subject to highlight the issues then fair enough, but as Ian Hislop correctly points out he's not exactly going to highlight these issues whilst sat in a commentary box watching a game of football. It's just a sad reality of people; we're selfish. We talk about having morals but very few people are willing to make sacrifices to stand up for what they believe in. In the case of Neville the sacrifice would be forgoing the financial gain and the exposure of working for a broadcaster during one of the biggest events in sport.
 
Rood said:
Hislop says he could stay at home at talk about the issues but thats the epitome of virtue signalling as far as Im concerned - actually going to Qatar to see first hand whats going on and talk to the people in charge of making decisions is far more worthwhile in my eyes
Click to expand...
I’m very doubtful that he will even get the chance to challenge anything that is happening in Qatar. In the end they are paying Gary to sit in a studio and talk about football, nothing more, which so far Neville is more than happy to accept.

Imo Gary wants to have his cake and to eat it too. He wants criticise Qatar while also taking their money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.