Gary Neville: You don’t kick a ball aged five because you want a Ferrari, you do it for love for the game

The former England footballer says it was lockdown that made him more vocal politically. Here the Sky pundit and Labour party member talks Keir Starmer, Gary Lineker’s tweets and VAR

NEV ON KEANO: 'What you’re seeing now is his real personality coming through'. Pic: Naomi Baker/Getty Images

There’s something about footballing Garys. Gary Lineker was controversially suspended by the BBC this spring after his tweet criticising the government’s small boats policy sparked a furore. With his slapped wrists still smarting, Lineker has since kept a lower profile. His Sky counterpart Gary Neville has duly come off the bench to become social media’s most outspoken former player.

Now 48, Neville is one of the most decorated English footballers of all time, having won 20 trophies for Manchester United, where he served as club captain for five seasons. He was England’s first-choice right-back for more than a decade, earning 85 international caps. After hanging up his boots in 2011, he became a Sky Sports pundit, either side of stints as head coach of Valencia and the England team’s assistant manager.