Gary Neville has given a lengthy defence of why he is taking part as a pundit for the World Cup in Qatar.
The former Manchester United captain has been under scrutiny for his decision to take part in media duties in the Middle East for the tournament. He was working for Qatar-owned beIN Sports for the opening match between the host nation and Ecuador on Sunday afternoon.
Neville was appearing as a pundit again on Monday, this time for ITV’s coverage of England’s match against Iran. When questioned about his decision to work in Qatar for the tournament, Neville gave a lengthy response.
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“I don’t feel conflicted. I’ve been coming over to the Middle East for 20 years and to South East Asia,” Neville told ITV Sport. “I’ve had business and commercial relationships with these parts for a long, long time.
“The fact FIFA has awarded a World Cup has come under intense scrutiny, I accept that position, I’m there to be shot at and people have criticised me heavily.
“People have criticised our colleagues on the BBC for coming over here but the reality of it is, my view on it quite simply is I detest human rights abuses, I hate the idea of not paying people enough money, people working in poor conditions, the idea of people not having good living conditions. The fact that women’s rights aren’t adhered to and human rights abuses, I can’t stand it.
“I also have relationships in this part of the world and have done for many years, those relationships are long standing, long standing in the UK, if you think we buy most of our energy from the Middle East, they own our banks, the royal family both have relationships sporting and charitable.
“If you think that our government, our political parties have with the Middle East, they own Heathrow Airport, stock exchange, the fact is, football has brought scrutiny and football tournaments have brought scrutiny on this part of the world and the challenges that exist in this part of the world and these things happen. I’m happy for football to front that up.
“If Prince William doesn’t want to come to this tournament but he’s okay with his father taking charitable donations - that’s fine.
“If the political MPs don’t want to come over but are happy to take money from them in our country for their political parties that’s fine with me, but I see it as footballers and ex-footballers coming under criticism.
“In my point of view, football should stand up, footballers should stand up, there’s another issue with the OneLove armband, the political and social issues that I’m delighted to talk about - there’s a conversation to be had because my point always is, should there be a World Cup in all parts of the world? Should there be a World Cup in the Middle East? Should there be a World Cup in Arab countries? There almost definitely should be.
“If we’re going to do that, we’re going to come across some countries in these parts of the world but can we not enjoy a sporting tournament and come over and challenge the system over here but bring football to different parts of the world, try and advance things.
“I will continue coming to this part of the world and continue to keep going to south east Asia.
“Things like our energy sector, our airforce, our banks, our political parties, they seem to want to shy away from their relationships with this part of the world but football will get scrutiny and be the one penalised.
“I, personally, have been hammered over the last couple of weeks and that’s fine but I’m happy to stand up and debate it because I think there’s a serious conversation to be had about where competitions should be held, I believe they should be held in the Middle East.”
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