Gary Neville has fired back after the Mirror’s football column published an article detailing how his hotel had lost £3 million over the course of the pandemic.
The outlet shared the piece on Twitter with the caption: “Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville’s Hotel Football loses £3m in two years and owes £10m in loans”.
Quote tweeting them just a few hours later, the Manchester United legend turned pundit quickly responded with a revised headline for them. Can’t lie, we prefer his…
Can i just sort your headline out for you 👇🏻
‘ Hotel owners maintain and pay all staff 100% of their wages in a global pandemic , whilst also hosting 120 medical professionals and nurses , who were sheltering from vulnerable family members at no cost to the NHS for 9 months’ https://t.co/5a9cUOQ8EA
As he explains in less than 280 characters, the reason why the business took such a financial hit – beyond the unavoidable obstacles of the pandemic itself – is that they paid staff ‘100% of their wages’ and also hosted ‘120 medical professionals and nurses’.
In case the news passed you by at the time, back in March 2020 the hotel announced that they would provide Covid-secure housing for NHS staff sheltering from vulnerable family members at absolutely no cost for at least nine months.
Sharing the following video when furlough was rolled out across the UK, Neville announced that the business owners would be putting up hundreds of frontline workers in Old Trafford’s Hotel Football and the Stock Exchange hotel, located in Manchester’s City Centre.
Neville and Giggs bought the Stock Exchange under the banner of their GG Hospitality Group in 2013 and opened Hotel Football two years later, along with the help of brother Phil and fellow Class of ‘92 members, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.
In the financial documents first viewed by the Daily Star, the company are said to have £1,148,879 in 2021 and even more in 2020: £2,042,812.
They are even said to have pulled money National Museum of Football, as well as taking out loans totalling £10.2m from the firm’s parent company to keep everything ticking over.
Nevertheless and even with rising inflation during and post-Covid, Neville insisted: “The directors have continued their policy of investing in the hotel to improve operational performance and to promote the Hotel Football brand”.
All that while providing a vital lifeline for key workers. Hero.
Featured image: Sky
Sport
Fury vs Joshua looks like it’s off — again
Danny Jones
In the latest twist that virtually everyone saw coming, the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight looks like it has been called off yet again. Is anyone even still bothered at this point?
Fury broke the news via Instagram on Monday evening, revealing that he had not received a signed contract from Joshua before his self-imposed 5pm deadline and that the long-awaited all match-up is now off the table.
While it looked like the two had finally reached an accord for a fight on 3 December earlier this month, with both of the boxer’s promoters confirming that a contract had been drawn up, Fury said fight fans can now “forget about it”.
BREAKING: Tyson Fury has declared he will not be fighting Anthony Joshua because "no contract has been signed" after his self-imposed 5pm deadline on Monday 🥊❌ pic.twitter.com/p8eGnslVPv
The Gypsy King declared it’s “officially over for Joshua” and, in typically idiosyncratic fashion, that “he’s now out in the cold with the wolfpack”. He never fails to come up with a sound bite.
The 34-year-old from Wythenshawe went on to label his 32-year-old would-be opponent an “idiot, coward, s***house, bodybuilder”, adding that he knew “he didn’t have the minerals” to take on the fight.
His comments echoed an earlier sentiment he shared with both AJ and Oleksandr Usyk last week when he called both of them “s***houses” and “s***bags”.
Joshua’s last two fights came against the Usyk, in which he lost both the first bout and the rematch, going viral with a rather bizarre speech in the immediate aftermath.
As well as questioning how the Ukrainian could have beaten him when he’s “not strong”, he references everything from the Russian invasion to his weight and time in prison.
As for Usyk, he is the only real opponent Fury is likely to face and the pair have been open about arranging a fight, despite both having made it quite clear that they hope to retire in the new future.
Sport
Gary Neville insists he has ‘no intention’ of going into politics
Emily Sergeant
Gary Neville has made his stance clear and insisted that he has absolutely “no intention” of going into politics in the future.
The former Manchester United and England footballer, turned manager, pundit, and commentator, made a guest starring appearance at the 2022 Labour Party Conference yesterday – which is currently being held in Liverpool – to give a speech at an event about the future of football.
The Bury-born 47-year-old also threw his support behind party leader Sir Keir Starmer.
But despite becoming a followed figure and somewhat of a voice on current political affairs since his retirement from the game, and most significantly within the last couple of years of Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and under the leadership of several Conservative Prime Ministers, Neville has claimed that he still does not intend to venture into politics.
Gary Neville has "no intention of going into politics"
Speaking at the Labour conference, the ex-England footballer says he doesn't support the tax cuts or removing the cap on bankers' bonuses – "I don't think [highest earners] were expecting favour"https://t.co/ACbxoTd90Zpic.twitter.com/56xDBTkxMQ
Neville told BBC Politics that a venture into politics is “something I’ve been asked about regularly over the last 12 – 18 months,” but clarified that he’s “got no intention of going into politics at all”, primarily because “I love what I do so much”.
Gary Neville insists he has ‘no intention’ of going into politics / Credit: BBC Politics
He continued: “The reality is I love what I do so much. I love what I do in football, I love what I do in Greater Manchester with the businesses that I co-own, and I have to say I wouldn’t want to give that up as I feel as though I’m happy in what I’m doing.
“I want to continue doing the things that I’m doing locally in Greater Manchester.
“And I have to say that I feel politically motivated, but I can do as much, I think, for the Labour Party by being here as I can do being an MP.
Danny Jones -
6th September 2022 
