Gary Neville’s Net Worth
He’s a former Manchester United and England stalwart and now stars as one of the most prominent pundits on Sky Sports but what is Gary Neville’s net worth?
What is Gary Neville’s net worth?
As of 2023, Neville has a net worth of an impressive £25 million. The obvious answers to what underpins his wealth come from the mainstream roles in football and the associated punditry work he carries out. There is much more to Neville than what you see associated to football though.
Early years
Neville, along with his sporting siblings Phil and Tracey, was born and raised in Bury – a town in Greater Manchester – to parents Neville and Jill. The family has a natural flair for all things sport. Both parents were associates of Bury football club whilst Gary was highly regarded in both football and cricket; so much so that he played alongside notable cricketers Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard.
Ultimately though, it was always the beautiful game that Neville wanted. This was perhaps largely shaped through his dad’s love of the game and, specifically, Manchester United. Neville is said to have attended games with his old man from the age of just four! As for playing the game, Neville first landed on the United radar aged 11 coming through a successful trial. For a long time he never looked likely to make it in the big time with his brother, Phil, seen as the better player. Thankfully, Neville had the perfect attitude and his first steps towards the dream of the big time finally came in 1991. At that point he penned apprentice terms with United. Not bad for a lad fresh out of school, hey.
Neville quickly established himself as a leader in the now famed ‘class of 92’ and was captain as they won the youth cup in his first year ‘on the books’ at the club. His inaugural season also saw him make his senior bow in a UEFA Cup tie. By 1994, Neville became United’s first choice right back. He’s never looked back.
Making it at Man United
At the start of that 1994/95 season Neville had only made a handful of appearances but injuries in the United backline presented him an opportunity to shine. He took it. Between late November and the end of the campaign, Neville had racked up 18 appearances. An England call up soon followed.
Although the Red Devil’s had won honours in his first couple of years at the club his first real glory season came in 1996 as United lifted the Premier League title with Neville featuring in 30 matches. It would prove to be just one of an incredible trophy haul Neville would win with a dominant Man United side over his career and his place amongst United’s greatest ever players is assured.
Neville spent his entire playing career at Old Trafford. It was there where he established his reputation as one of the best right backs of all time and earned legendary status with the United fan base through a combination of talent, hard work and passion. Oh, and we shouldn’t forget his fierce hatred of Liverpool. All in all, he made 602 appearances – skippering the side for five years – and winning 20 trophies.
An England mainstay and next steps
Neville made his first England appearance early on in his career but it was far from a one off. He was one of the first names on the team sheet for the best part of 12 years with six different managers handing him caps on his way to a highly respectable 82; those caps include Neville featuring at five major tournaments. Many of those appearances came with his one-time United teammate David Beckham playing ahead of him but despite the talented England side of Neville’s era they failed to achieve what was anticipated.
Things didn’t work out much better for Neville as he stepped into a coaching role in his post-playing days. He worked under Roy Hodgson for four years. Things ended for him in disastrous fashion; he offered his resignation from the assistant manager job shortly after Hodgson had stepped aside after England were humiliated at the hands of Iceland at Euro 2016. That along with a catastrophic 16 game spell as Valencia manager in La Liga are the only managerial roles on his CV. He’s claimed he’ll never return to football in such a capacity.
Punditry and becoming a voice in the mainstream media
So, we know that management is now off the radar for Neville. It means his main public facing involvement in football now comes through Sky where he doubles as a pundit and commentator; it banks him seven figures per year. He’s struck up an unlikely on-screen friendship with Jamie Carragher; the duo are regularly trending on social media as they banter one another. Over the Covid-19 disturbed 2020/21 season though football and politics intertwined with one another for a number of reasons.
Of course, there were issues with behind closed door games, matches being postponed and a need for an EFL rescue deal. It wasn’t those things that put Neville in the eye of the population outside of football’s hardcore following; that came in the shape of two things. Firstly, there was the Super League; this was a concept that would see the so-called big clubs compete against one another in non-pyramid based league system; i.e. without relegation or promotion. Neville, who is one of the most loyal football players in Premier League history, fumed as the news broke live on air; his passionate but firm monologue on Sky Sports won him fans across football and beyond.
In fact, Neville’s outrage was the catalyst that saw fans revolt and the involved English clubs withdraw from the plans. At that point, Gary Neville’s net worth of £25m didn’t seem like enough for a man that helped to protect football in the country that is the “home of football”.
In addition to his work in the football media, Neville broke new ground in 2022. He was guest host on entertainment show ‘Have I Got News For You’. He received dogs abuse and was widely teased, however, he emerged from the show with huge praise too.
The Overlap
Alongside Neville’s punditry work for Sky, the former Man United full back also runs a podcast. It is called ‘The Overlap’ and is sponsored by SkyBet. The Overlap sees Neville take on the role of interviewer where he takes famous personalities on a trip down memory lane whilst also asking probing questions of the hurdles they’ve faced and their ambitions for the future. The series landed in a big way when England striker Harry Kane used the platform to push for a move from Tottenham. Since then, Neville has interviewed several big names from the world of football including Frank Lampard, Gerard Pique and David Beckham. It’s not just footballers though; Neville’s podcast has also seen him pose questions to mammoth boxing duo Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury amongst several other non-footy focussed guests.
In addition to the standard interview formats, Neville also ran a special Overlap episode where he visited Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup. During this episode, Neville shone a spotlight on many of the issues and controversies surrounding their hosting of the biggest tournament in the world. He was highly commended for this in-depth look at the host nation and praised for asking the tough questions.
On the subject of Qatar controversy, it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Neville has come under fire surrounding the World Cup. Neville agreed a deal with BeIn Sports for the Qatar World Cup. The company are Qatari owned and, as such, Neville received huge criticism and accusations of hypocrisy given their record relating to human rights. Neville, however, defended his position to “take the Qatari money” stating he felt that platform would allow him to highlight those issues in a big way.
A voice outside of football
In addition to the Super League fiasco, the other big area Neville has been outspoken on is politics. Again, it’s Covid-19 related. Neville has been openly critical of Boris Johnson. His opinions on Twitter are on part of how he uses his position to communicate but it went further than that. During Euro 2020 Neville was a pundit for ITV alongside stars including Ian Wright and Roy Keane; during that time Neville attracted complaints as he lauded praise on England boss Gareth Southgate as ‘everything a leader should be’ in a subtle dig at Johnson.
With the pandemic continuing long beyond the summer tournament, the former England full back has grown more and more vocal at the British government; he’s constantly poking jibes at the Conservatives via social media where he has a combined following of 6.2m across Twitter and Instagram. The theme of his message centres on incompetence and corruption. He has since gone a step further and is now a recognised member of the Labour Party. He has, however, ruled out moving into politics in the shape of running to be an MP.
His willingness to metaphorically “shoot” the Tories divides opinion; some say “stick to football” whilst others say politics is his future. What your view, you cannot deny his passion and ability to articulate a point.
Breaking into business
If you listen to Neville talk, there is no doubting his intelligence. He has strong opinions, articulates them well and follows it all up with the graft he showed as a footballer. His final years at Old Trafford were spent planning for a future in business; he’s followed through with that ambition.
Neville is a co-owner at lower league club Salford with several of his former class of 92 teammates. He also has fingers in several other pies to bolster his net worth. Those businesses are a far cry from the football world with Neville owning hotels, bars and even a university.
There you have it, an under the hood look at how Gary Neville’s net worth was built.