Gary Neville has revealed he removed a union flag from one of his Manchester development sites because it was being “used in a negative fashion”, as he urged his followers to question what it means to be patriotic.
In a video posted on Friday, the day after a deadly attack at a Manchester synagogue, the former footballer turned property developer said he believed that “we’re all being turned on each other”, attributing much of the blame for the divide to “angry, middle-aged white men … who know exactly what they’re doing”.
He described driving down Littleton Road, in the Salford neighbourhood, and seeing “probably 50-60 union jack flags” on that stretch of his journey. He then compared that with his return drive through the parallel road, Bury New Road, where the Jewish community were “out in the streets, defiant, not hiding or in fear”.
Neville, who has built a vast property empire in Manchester since retiring from football in 2011, said he took down a union flag being displayed on one of his building sites.
“Funnily enough on one of my development sites last week there was a union jack flag put up and I took it down instantly,” he said.
“Some people might be watching this and thinking: ‘Gary you’re not really patriotic.’ I’ve played for my country 85 times, I love my country, I love Manchester and I love England.”
Neville, 50, said that in the years he has been building in the city, he had never seen union flags at the current rate and questioned why this was the case.
“The union jack flag used in a negative fashion is not right and I’m a proud supporter of England, of Great Britain, of our country and will champion it anywhere in the world as one of the greatest places to live,” he said.
“But I think we need to check ourselves, 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.”
The Sky Sports commentator has frequently voiced his opinions on political and social issues, including that people should “detest” the poor working conditions for migrant workers in Qatar and NHS staff in the UK, and criticising Boris Johnson for “fuelling” racism and hatred when he was prime minister.
In his LinkedIn video, Neville commented on the diversity of football, saying that he played with people from across the UK and from around the world. “We were a beautiful team, united as one,” he said.
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He said he blamed Brexit for its “devastating effect” on the country, and said the “messaging” of division was becoming “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,” he said.
“We must stop elevating our voices towards them and it needs to stop now and get back to a country of love, of peace, of harmony and become a team again.”