Former Manchester United right back Gary Neville joins Mic'd Up to discuss USMNT, Ruben Amorim hire, and if Ronaldo could play in MLS
Gary Neville is always thinking about what's next. The former Manchester United right back never took a break after retiring from soccer in 2011, establishing himself as a pundit and businessman in his native Manchester. The next frontier, though? America.
"I recognize the strength of the game growing in America and the U.S., the World Cup coming up in a couple of years," Neville says.
But figuring out how exactly to do that with authenticity has been a challenge. Neville has an immensely successful series – the Overlap has 1.25 million subscribers on YouTube – but molding that to an American audience "with a scouser and a manc" isn't easy, he admitted. Still, has started all the same, and looks to make a dent in the U.S. media landscape.
"It wouldn't surprise me at all if he rocked up in New York, LA at one of the big cities, and sort of finished his career in the U.S." – Neville, on Cristiano Ronaldo's future
Neville's ties to the U.S. isn't as strong as that of his co-hosts, Jamie Carragher and Rebecca Lowe. He can live in relative anonymity outside of airports. But when it comes to knowing the game on a global scale, there are very few people who are better qualified.
"Authenticity is the most important thing to me. So in one way, it's authentic because we're being ourselves. We've played in the Premier League all our lives, and we're speaking to a global audience, but a U.S. audience," he said.
He is steadily embedding himself in the U.S. game. And with a new manager in Mauricio Pochettino at the helm for the USMNT, a World Cup to come in 2026, and the MLS Playoffs in full swing, there might not be a more perfect moment to capitalize.
The former Man United man talks American soccer, Ruben Amorim, David Beckham and more in this edition of Mic'd Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL US taps into the perspective of broadcasters, analysts and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
Getty ImagesON POCHETTINO, SOCCER IN THE U.S.
GOAL: What would you say a reasonable expectation is for Mauricio Pochettino as U.S. manager?
NEVILLE: I think he said quarterfinal (at the 2026 World Cup). And Tim Howard said quarterfinal. I think for the US to get to a quarterfinal would be an amazing result. I honestly do. When I think about the golden generation of English players that I played with – and we didn't create the tag ourselves – we only got to quarterfinals of World Cups. So you think about us being golden generation of players with [Frank] Lampard, [David] Beckham, [Paul] Scholes, [Steven] Gerrard, Sol Campbell, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, and we can only get to quarterfinals of tournaments… It's pretty obvious that the US team currently doesn't have that level of quality that I've just named in that group of English players, and we only ever got to a quarterfinal. So I think for the US team to get to a quarterfinal would be – I always think of it as in golf, that would be a birdie. I think getting into the knockout phases would be par. I think getting to the semifinals an eagle, and if you get get to the final, it's an albatross.
GOAL: And if you win it?
NEVILLE: To be honest with you, just go and get bladdered for six months!
GOAL: I've always wanted to ask, do you get recognized in the States?
NEVILLE: Particularly in the airports, you get recognized a lot. So U.S. soccer fans in airports, particularly, I think if you're walking around the shopping mall or shopping center, I think it's in those busy places when you're walking around… sometimes in the hotel, but it's less so. The waiters that are working in the restaurants, they always support football teams or soccer teams… So I remember going to a restaurant in New York last time I was there, a few weeks ago, and there was Juventus fan, and he just remembered Juventus playing against Manchester United throughout the '90s, 2000s and basically said, "I remember those tussles with Man U and you guys, and I'm a Juventus fan." So I get recognized because of my Premier League profile, but because playing against supporters of other teams – or playing against other clubs.
AdvertisementIt's Called SoccerON THE TRANSITION TO MEDIA ANALYST
GOAL: Talk to me about It's Called Soccer… Why now?
NEVILLE: Three years ago, I had this quite clear vision just at the start. I felt as though there was this movement towards short form content, and everyone was going towards, like, 90 seconds. It's got to fit TikTok, it's got to fit Instagram. I get that and understand it. But I felt like there was still a conversation for long-form without live football, just people talking about the game. I knew podcasts had become a thing. I wasn't necessarily into podcasts at the time. I'm more into the sort of production, visual side, and wanted to set up basically a channel of my own. I knew I would take it into the fan debate. Knew I was going to get into stick to football. I knew I wanted to go into live shows.
But then eventually I thought, actually, I'd like to do something in different territories. I love the Middle East. I love the Far East, but I recognize the strength of the game growing in America and the U.S., the World Cup coming up in a couple of years. And I think the potential just for football content over there is potentially greater than probably in the Middle East and Far East this moment in time. So yeah, just decided that we're going to go for it and try and create an American or U.S. bias with a scouser and a Manc!
GOAL: Perfect. Infallible as a model. What's the biggest challenge of doing that, of having a Scouser and a Manc bringing soccer to Americans?
NEVILLE: Authenticity is the most important thing to me. So in one way, it's authentic because we're being ourselves. We've played in the Premier League all our lives, and we're speaking to a global audience, but a U.S. audience. What we have to do is try to sort of mold and refine this piece of content, which we are continually doing. How American do we make it? For instance, so far we've had had guests on like Mauricio Pochettino, there's an obvious American link. We've had Jurgen Klinsmann, again, an obvious American link. We have Christina Unkel on every week doing the ref watch. Obviously, an obvious American link. We've had my brother on, who's obviously managing in the MLS and coached in the MLS, Robbie Keane, who played for LA Galaxy.
Five out of our first six guests have an understanding of U.S. football in some way or the other. It's us, it's The Overlap. It's me, it's Carra. But we're actors trying to interview people who've got a a passion and knowledge and intelligence over in the U.S. about soccer.
IMAGNON PHIL NEVILLE AND MLS
GOAL: Your brother, Phil, has been out here for three, almost four years now (now head coach of the Portland Timbers). What has he told you about American soccer, and do you follow MLS?
NEVILLE: I've followed Phil's games over the last few years. I was over in Miami for three weeks a couple of years ago now, and watched a couple of games of his. Phil wants an athletic team. Phil wants a team that's full of vibrancy and energy and youth. He told me he absolutely loves it over there. I don't think he's coming back. I think he absolutely loves the US. I think he loves the people. I think he loves the way of life. I think he's embedded himself with his family.
We are quite a committed family in the sense that when Phil moves to Miami, he buys a house in Miami. When Phil moves to Portland, he's bought and built a house in Portland. He commits to the people, to a city, to a team, to a group of fans, and that's the way we are as a family. He thinks that the football quality is high standard. He obviously knows it's not the Premier League. I mean, we all know that, but he accepts that.
He knows the game's growing and the crowds are growing, and that the fans are very passionate about it. He believes there is a very good crop of young players who can become excellent players in the U.S. and that the U.S. games is getting stronger and stronger. He wouldn't be over there, for three years if he didn't enjoy it.
Getty ImagesON DAVID BECKHAM AND INTER MIAMI
GOAL: And on Miami, you have a good friend who may or may not be involved there in some, way, shape or form… What have you made of [David Beckham's] job as an owner and as a spearhead of a project? Because he's a larger than life figure when it comes to the game…
NEVILLE: Do you know something? I go back to the very first story that everyone told about David Beckham, when we all got Honda cars when we were 17-18. We all had fabric seats, and he got the leather interior. We all had the normal speakers, and he had the Bose surround sound. There is an element of that, at the time could have been deemed as being the flashy cockney. But what it is is an ambition for perfectionism, for being the very best and doing everything to a level that is just excellent all the time.
And you look at everything that he's done in his life… it's always been to a level whereby it's got to be special, it's got to be something different, it's got to be something he's passionate about. What he's done with Miami… he established it in the first couple of years, which was something that obviously you need to do. But he always had this vision of creating the most exciting football team, the most exciting football club that looks good on the pitch and looks good off the pitch. That's what David Beckham does. He looks good on the pitch and he looks good off the pitch. He's always treated both equally. At times that was deemed, maybe, seen as being distracted by the off field activity. But I've got no doubts.
You'll see this in his documentary, but if you think about a man who's willing to spend half an hour lining up his shirts, his own shirts, perfectly in a wardrobe, that's a guy who's got standards. That basically means that he's gonna apply those same standards to a football club, whether it be another business that he's part of.
I think it's amazing. That stadium that they built – which is temporary – it's the best temporary stadium in the world. It's like, "Oh my god, you don't need to build a new one mate! This one's great!" "No, no, I want to build the best Stadium in U.S. Soccer." I'm like, "No, but this one's fine. Don't worry!" I would have accepted that stadium as being our stadium forever and saved a bit of money. Not him. He's got to put leather seats and Bose speakers in his stadium.
GOAL: One thing I don't think he got enough credit for, personally, is that, the fact that it was going to take time to build Miami. I think everyone just assumed 'Oh, it's a brand, it's him!' But there were going to be a couple of years of a struggle, if you will?
NEVILLE: If they can win the MLS Cup after four years, that would be unbelievable. If you just said to him four years ago, you're going to have amazing crowds. You're going to create the attention you've created. You're going to have the MLS Cup inside four years, he would have snapped your hand off. It's an amazing achievement to do what they've done. And it won't stop there, because he is persistent, relentless, nonstop. He'll think of it as a great achievement. But he'll think about now I want to win three on the bounce, I want to win four on the bounce. He will want to dominate that space, because that's the way he thinks. It's the way he's been brought up.
