Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher are two of the biggest pundits in the business – but they're not immune from Sky replacing them
(Image credit: Getty)
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have told FourFourTwo that they still haven't become complacent at Sky, since the demands on the network are so high.
The pair became Premier League legends for Manchester United and Liverpool respectively, striking up a surprising friendship when they each hung up their boots to work for Sky Sports. While Neville and Carragher are arguably the two biggest pundits in the country right now, however, they've told FFT that they still don't feel fully comfortable – and that it could be taken away from them at any moment.
"I don’t really think about how long it’s been," Neville said of his time in the Sky studio. "But it is hard, you know – it’s not playing football, it’s not being a manager, but anyone who looks at it and thinks, ‘Oh, they’re just on television, talking about football’... well, yeah, OK.
Neville and Carragher weren't exactly friends as players (Image credit: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
"But there are thousands of jobs all over the world now doing this, so to stay at Sky – the Premier League rights-holders in this country – and on shows like Super Sunday and Monday Night Football, the demands are high. To stay there for several years is an achievement, because it’s probably a gig that most people would want.
"If you think of the top gigs in football punditry, there’s only three or four. Working on major tournaments, Match of the Day, Monday Night Football – they’re the pinnacle of football broadcasting.
"We know it will be taken away from us the minute it doesn’t work any more, so we’re very conscious of making sure we change things all of the time."
"Yeah, we know what viewers think because we’re viewers ourselves, and you don’t want to watch exactly the same thing every single season," Carragher added. "I don’t want to do that and I don’t think Gary does. We always want new ideas, different guests, different formats.
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Neville and Carragher have become two of the best-loved pundits in the country (Image credit: Getty)
"Friday Night Football, which we’ve done for the last three or four years, was a good example: the format was completely different to the other shows that we do."
The new season kicks off on Friday August 11 on Sky Sports, as Manchester City take on Burnley.
Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from more than 20 countries, in places as varied as Ivory Coast and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, AFCON and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.
