Gary Neville was a notable absentee on the punditry panel when viewers tuned into Sky Sports’ coverage of Aston Villa vs Manchester United this afternoon. Villa Park hosts a major occasion, with Erik ten Hag believed to be on the brink of the sack, but none of the broadcaster’s big hitters joined Dave Jones in the studio.
Jones opened the show by introducing the pundits for Super Sunday at the Amex Stadium, where Brighton and Hove Albion welcome Tottenham later in the day.
Dimitar Berbatov sat alongside Les Ferdinand and Steve Sidwell, leaving many surprised by the lack of Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane and the other core members of Sky’s cast for such a significant match.
Instead, Neville is working with American broadcaster NBC after committing to weekly appearances for the 2024/25 Premier League season.
The United legend has performed his role in the UK since the start of the season but has this weekend been stationed at NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conneticut.
Neville still offered his insight to Sky Sports in the opening stages of the broadcast, though, to discuss his former club.
After a brief introduction with Berbatov, Ferdinand and Sidwell and a look at United’s woeful early-season form, Jones explained that the Sky stalwart was away “on loan.”
As Neville emerged on a split screen, Jones said: “Well Gary Neville is not at the ground this weekend, he’s on loan at our American cousins NBC. It’s an early start on the east coast, good morning to you, Gary!”
Ten Hag’s position is under intense scrutiny after overseeing just three wins in United’s opening 10 games this season, including back-to-back 3-0 home league defeats to Liverpool and Spurs.
Another poor result at Villa Park would leave the visitors winless in five and Ten Hag in a vulnerable spot entering an international break.
Neville admitted he believes another miserable day in the West Midlands would seriously test the United hierarchy’s patience, but is convinced they would rather retain faith in the Dutchman.
“It will be Dan Ashworth. It will be Omar Berrada, supported by Jason Wilcox. They’ll make the decision or recommendation, should I say,” Neville explained.
“And then it will be Joel Glazer, Jim Ratcliffe and Dave Brailsford, who are on that sporting committee at the top of the club, who will validate it.
“But one thing’s for certain, when you speak to people around the club, they don’t want to make that decision. They want to try and be different and get through this difficult time.
“It is their first time in this situation, and they’ve got a lot of evidence over the last 10 years of how to do it and how not to do it.
“And I suppose at this moment in time, they’ll want to try and make their own decision based upon what they’re thinking.
“And look, there’s no chance, when they went into this in the summer, backing Erik ten Hag the way in which they did, that they wanted to be in this position, six, seven games in.
“The problem is if the result is really bad today, if the performance is really bad today, then it gets really difficult, and that’s where their nerve will be tested.”