Jeff Stelling’s decision to stay with Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday programme has been met with a hugely positive reaction and the popular broadcaster proved why, after leaving his colleagues in hysterics with a hilarious dig aimed at Gary Neville involving Mikel Arteta.
Arteta’s first two seasons at Arsenal were blighted by poor form and fallouts with players such as Mesut Ozil. But after spending £150million last summer, the 39-year-old has assembled a squad that appears to be capable of challenging for a top-four finish.
The Arsenal manager was the subject of high praise from Neville after engineering a major turnaround in the club’s fortunes, having described Arsenal as "boring" only 18 months ago. And the Manchester United legend turned pundit has made a complete U-turn on his views regarding the Gunners coach, suggesting he may have reached his ceiling with the north London club.
Speaking on The Overlap Live, he said: ”I really like Mikel Arteta, I think he’s a brilliant coach. I think the team is fantastic in terms of the young players they’ve got. Arteta's a good operator. My concern is if Arsenal finish fourth this season – which to be fair, I think is 50/50, I still think there’s a long way to in that race – but if they finish fourth, that’s in some ways as good as it gets.
“You’ve got Pep [Guardiola], [Jurgen] Klopp, Man United, Chelsea, where can Arsenal go? They’re not going to compete. Mikel Arteta is a brilliant coach, I love that we’re seeing a team that he’s getting the maximum out of.
"I can see exactly how he wants to play, we all can. But he gets to fourth [and] if he was really hard about it, he’d probably say “right, that’s the best I can do there, I’m going now and getting my next job."
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Having mentioned Neville’s comments in a debate on Soccer Saturday, Stelling seemed to agree that the Spaniard could move on, adding his “stock is high at the moment” after taking the Gunners from two consecutive eighth-place finishes to the brink of Champions League qualification.
But former Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison, a regular pundit for Sky, replied: “But where could he go? Where can he go that’s bigger than Arsenal? Because Arsenal are a big football club. And if they get in the Champions League they’ll spend money and attract players to keep them going. Where can he go? Give him [Neville] a call and see if you could sort it out.”
Without hesitation, Stelling picked up his phone and pretended to call the Man United legend, acting out a conversation between the two: “Hello Gary? Yeah. Where could he go? Salford?! No! No, no, no. He wants a job that’s going to last longer than six months.”
The thinly-veiled dig aimed at his Sky colleague was made in reference to Salford’s recent turnover of managers, with Graham Alexander, Paul Scholes, Richie Wellens and now Gary Bowyer taking their place in the dugout since 2020. Neville may not have seen the funny side, but it left his pundits in the studio such as Morrison and Paul Merson unable to contain themselves.
Stelling waited for the laughter to die down before clarifying it was simply a bit of banter between the pair: “Sorry Gaz! The way they [Salford] killed Hartlepool today, it was just the wrong time to do it,” he added.
Stelling, who joined Sky in 1994 as presenter for Soccer Saturday, announced his intention to step down from his post after 28 years in the role earlier this season. But after mulling over his decision, the diehard Hartlepool fan made a U-turn last week after admitting he felt he had more to offer to the show.
