Gary Neville hits back at Everton legend Kevin Ratcliffe
Former England international and Premier League winner Gary Neville isn’t a popular figure on Merseyside, even amongst Everton supporters.
While Liverpool fans are the source of most of the Merseyside ire directed at Neville, it comes from Goodison Park sometimes as well.
That partially comes with the territory when you’re a public figure who works as a pundit and commentator.
You’re always going to offend one group of fans or another with your critique of their chosen team.
On this specific occasion, Neville has managed to irritate a Toffees legend: the great Kevin Ratcliffe.
Ratcliffe targeted the Sky Sports pundit on his personal Twitter account after the Blues’ 3-2 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, saying: “Why is @GNev2 so negative towards @Everton !”
Neville didn’t take long to offer up his rejoinder.
“I mean you haven’t won at arsenal for 24 years , you are crap in big matches ( and I actually don’t want you to be ) , your team shrink in nearly every big game I see and you ask me to talk you up!!,” he wrote on his personal Twitter account.
Who’s in the right, here?
You can never win when claiming a pundit is biased against your specific team, because it’s typically patently untrue. They’re just doing their job.
The only time that’s not the case is when it’s someone like Roy Keane talking about Liverpool or Manchester City.
Neville has a point about the Toffees’ failure in big matches. They often come unstuck against the elite of the division, it’s true.
But Ratcliffe is entitled to his view, just like Neville is. Both men have their opinions and so they’ll simply have to agree to disagree on this occasion.
In other Everton news, former Toffees boss Sam Allardyce has been raving over an in-form Blues star.