Jamie Carragher gave Monday Night Football viewers the chance to decide whether Gary Neville should appear on this week’s show.
The two Sky Sports pundits were due to appear on the coverage of Liverpool ’s pivotal clash with Leicester City. But just over an hour before going on air, Carragher revealed his rival-turned-colleague had managed to lock himself out of the studio.
In a post on Twitter, the Kop legend shared a series of messages of Neville, asking him to let him inside the building after being locked outside. But rather than run to his aid, Carragher threw it to his 2.2 million followers to make the final decision.
“Leave @GNev2 or let him out? You decide if you want him on the show!!” Fans were quick to reply, with many suggesting it was a perfect time to get one over on the Manchester United legend.
“Let him in but only if he promises to wear a Liverpool shirt tonight,” one fan said in reply. “Make sure he stays locked in there,” a second said.
“Leave him out he’ll find a way to blame the Glazers for this one as well,” another posted. But while the majority were happy for his isolation to continue, there were some keen to see him take his seat.
“Let him in, and confront Howard Webb about all the apologies Brighton have had this season,” a post read. It promised to be a fascinating edition of the Sky Sports staple, with the chief of referees going public on several contentious decisions from this season.
Neville did eventually make it into the studio, revealing he was breaking an 11-year tradition by appearing on the show without a shirt and tie - instead going for a more casual look including t-shirt and trainers.
Webb made English footballing history, by offering up the conversations between on-field officials and their VAR counterparts in Stockley Park. The move is to add an extra layer of transparency into the decision-making process which has been heavily criticised all season.
Along with refereeing conversations, there is also sure to be hotly contested debates surrounding the end of Arsenal ’s title challenge. A 3-0 home defeat to Brighton all but concluded the Gunners’ bid to win the Premier League for the first time in 20 years.
Neville has strongly asserted that Manchester City would eventually overtake Arsenal at the summit, even when the latter had a sizeable advantage at the top of the table.
“Arsenal have had a great season but when the going got tough they struggled,” Neville posted on Monday morning. “It seems now the narrative is that it’s City’s strength, injuries and a tough run in is the cause. These are normal factors that need pricing into a title race.
“Arsenal have dropped 12 pts in 7 games! Won 9pts from a possible 21. All the characteristics of it being too much have appeared. Loss of form, giving up leads, energy and legs going, making unforced errors not seen earlier in the season, young players becoming tense and losing their freedom of expression and others showing too much emotion when calmness is needed.
“I understand why we want to use less emotive language in 2023. However in a high performance environment and at elite level we must still recognise when pressure has taken its toll. That league table below was only 7 games and 5 weeks ago. I hope these Arsenal players are there again one day(if it’s not United) and can see it through.”
