Salford City owner Gary Neville has revealed he removed a Union flag from one of his Manchester-based development sites as it was being used “in a negative fashion.”
In a video posted on Friday after a deadly terror attack on a Synagogue in Crumpsall, Neville denounced the increase in Union flags flown across the country and issued a plea for “love, peace and harmony” at a time when “division is being created.”
The 50-year-old described driving down Littleton Road, in Kersal, and seeing “50-60 Union Jack flags” on that part of his journey. He then explained that his return drive on Bury New Road, only a few miles from the terror attack site, he saw members of the Jewish community “out in the streets, defiant, not hiding or in fear.”
The former England football player said his drive made him think “that we’re all being turned on each other. The division that is being created is absolutely disgusting.
He attributed the blame to “angry, middle-aged white men who know exactly what they’re doing.”
Neville caveated his stance against the flying of the Union Jack by explaining, “I love my country, I love Manchester and I love England.
I am a proud supporter of England, of Great Britain and of our country and we’re championing it anywhere in the world because it has been one of the greatest places to live.”
However, in a message to his followers, the Manchester United player turned Sky Sports pundit questioned why “no one put a Union Jack flag up in the last 15 to 20 years” before he suggested it was to “send a message that there is something you don’t like.”
Neville fully acquired Salford City alongside former teammate David Beckham in May 2025 and, despite his extensive football and property interests, he has found time to voice his opinions on political and social issues before.
He became a Labour member in 2022 and has been a consistent advocate for Keir Starmer’s government and voiced his support at a fringe event during the party’s conference in Liverpool last September.
However, he condemned divisive rhetoric at both ends of the political spectrum and said that the country needed to return to a “neutral point.”
“We need to check ourselves because we are being pulled right and left. We don’t need to be pulled right and left at all.
“I think we need to check ourselves and start to think about bringing ourselves back to a neutral point.
He concluded his video by blaming “Brexit” for its “devastating impact on this country” and lambasted “idiots that are out spreading hate speech and abuse in any form.”
“We must stop elevating our voices towards them, it needs to stop now and get back to a county of peace, love and harmony.”
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