Man City fans send Gary Neville message as Man Utd legend wisely skips FA Cup thumping
Gary Neville was not in attendance as his club Salford City clashed with Manchester City in the third round of the FA Cup at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday and the home fans were not exactly complimentary
by Daniel Orme · The MirrorManchester City fans serenaded Gary Neville during their 8-0 hammering of Salford City despite him not being at the Etihad Stadium.
The reigning Premier League champions welcomed Salford City - a club that Neville is a part-owner of - in the third round of the FA Cup. But the Manchester United icon chose not to attend the game.
Instead, he decided to go skiing. But City fans did not miss the opportunity to make their feelings about him public.
Supporters inside the Etihad chanted: “Gary Neville, you’re a w*****, you’re a w*****!” The chants came after Pep Guardiola's side had enjoyed a perfect start against the League Two side.
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Jeremy Doku opened the scoring after just eight minutes, with Divin Mubama doubling the advantage with his first goal for the club. Nico O’Reilly made it 3-0 minutes before half time, with Jack Grealish netting a penalty after the break. James McAtee scored City's fifth, with Doku grabbing his second of the game soon after, while McAtee notched two late goals to bag a hat-trick.
Guardiola gave his thoughts on Neville before the game after he had slammed City as ‘boring’. Instead of biting back, the Spaniard claimed that he could never become a pundit.
Speaking before the game, the City boss said: “I don’t think I’m going to do that. I am so cautious or concerned to not make a comment that could hurt my colleagues. I know how difficult our job is. I don’t want to pretend to be sitting there and know what happened. It’s so unpredictable and many things happen.
“Always when I hurt someone it’s delivery, when I don’t want it. It’s to defend my club. I always had the feeling of how difficult it is. I was a football player before and now a manager. Our business is so complicated.
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“It’s unpredictable, so difficult. I don’t want to hurt my colleagues. Maybe (becoming a pundit) is going to happen in the future, but honestly I don’t think so.”
“It’s a job they do, it’s normal,” he added. “If it’s boring, if they say obvious things, people will not pay attention. But normally I quite agree with what they say. I’m not joking. I quite agree with what the pundits say about the games.
“It’s not a big problem for me. Managers get paid for many reasons. One of them is to accept what people say in the good and the bad moments.”
Salford will now be forced to focus on their battle for promotion to League One. They currently sit third ahead of next weekend’s clash with Fleetwood Town.
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