Former footballer turned multi-million pound business owner Gary Neville has opened up about his career, how he worked himself to the point of collapse and the importance of Greater Manchester to his business portfolio.
Speaking to Steven Bartlett, Dragons' Den star and host of Diary of CEO podcast, he explained how he set out to ditch the 'ex-Manchester United football player' tag to forge a second career in business.
But he explained his dislike for the epithet: 'Gary Neville, entreprenuer'
He said: "The term entrepreneur makes my skin crawl a little bit," he says on the podcast.
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Gary Neville is the chief executive of Relentless Group which is behind the St Michael's scheme in Manchester city centre.
He also owns Hotel Football and the Stock Exchange hotel in Manchester as well as a stake in Salford City FC.
And he is a co-founder of University Academy 92 (UA92) a higher education provider with a campus at Old Trafford, Manchester, with degrees awarded by Lancaster University.
UA92 is co-founded by Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.
Neville explained that he is criticised for being 'naive' and not setting his sights further than Greater Manchester.
He explained: "I'm passionate about where I come from, where I live and I want to invest into this part of the country."
He told Bartlett that he gets called a 'champagne socialist' and admitted that he is 'torn' between his business endeavours with social projects, like the university on one hand and 5-star projects like The Stock Exchange Hotel and the St Michael's Project, a 40-storey tower that will include a five-star hotel with 161 beds, 181 serviced residences, amenity and leisure space.
He said: "Some people throw at me 'How does that sit with your social conscience?'
"You've got these expensive apartments and expensive hotel rooms, you charge £40 for a steak.
"I think it's OK to be offended by Manchester not having enough affordable housing and not having enough high class accommodation. I'm offended by both. Why does Manchester have to be pigeonholed into the three or four star market.?
"I'm offended by the fact that we can't raise the standards to the highest level and the fact that we can't look after people and make sure that they have got a house to live in of a comfortable size in an area that they want to live in.
"I feel torn between my projects and I want high standards in our city.
"Why do people from Manchester have to go to Paris or London to experience five star hospitality and service? You should be able to get it in our city, I want to drive investment in our city to raise the standards."
Listen to the full episode here.
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