Neville slammed by Agbonlahor after commentating on Salford City on Sky Sports

30 August 2023 , 11:12

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Gary Neville was on co-commentary duty for Salford against Leeds (Image: Getty Images)

Gabriel Agbonlahor has questioned Sky Sports' decision to select Gary Neville on co-commentary duty for Salford's Carabao Cup tie against Leeds.

Neville has been a co-owner of Salford since 2014 alongside former Manchester United teammates David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs Paul Scholes and Phil Neville. He was also the club's Chief Executive Officer until he stepped down last October, with Butt taking the reigns on a full-time basis.

But, despite his affiliation with the Ammies, Neville appeared on co-commentary for Salford's Carabao Cup second-round tie against United's arch rivals Leeds, alongside Michael Bridges.

Agbonlahor told talkSPORT: "The problem last night was I wanted to watch Fulham vs Spurs. You're expecting a tricky game there for Spurs in the end, but I didn't quite understand why Salford versus Leeds was on Sky, rather than [Fulham vs Spurs]. Is it a giantkiller? They're in the Championship, Leeds.

"But I don't think you should have an owner of a football club being the co-commentator in Gary Neville. I don't think that makes sense. A lot of people agree with me.

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"It didn't make sense for Gary Neville to be commentating on a club that he co-owns, it was a very strange decision, it didn't sound great to be honest and that upset a lot of people."

Fans were also left baffled on social media. One said: "Bit mad having Gary Neville doing the commentary for a team that he part owns lol." Another added: "Just as a general principle, it is not right that Gary Neville, as a club club owner, should commentate on that game. He did OK but that's not the point. There is a clear conflict of interest. The optics are awful."

(Getty Images)

As for the game itself, Matt Smith headed Salford into a first-half lead at the Peninsula Stadium, and Neville could not contain his excitement as he could be heard cheering into the microphone. However, Salford did not hold on with Pascal Struijk equalising for the Ammies in the 76th minute.

Neither side could be separated after 90 minutes, leaving penalties to decide who would progress through to round three. Salford ended up coming out on top in the shootout, with Ossama Ashley scoring the decisive spot-kick as the Ammies ran out 9-8 victors following a 1-1 draw in normal time.

"The quality of penalties was really high," Salford boss Neil Wood told BBC Radio Manchester after the match. "We'd done a lot of preparation when we played Stockport in the play-offs.

"The past two games [that have gone to penalties] since then we've not really done any preparation, we've just left it to the lads who felt confident and who wanted to take one. We've come a long way, especially in the penalty department and we learned a harsh lesson against Stockport."

Kieran King