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02nd Jan 2019

Gary Neville clarifies his ‘do one’ response to Paul Pogba’s post-Jose Instagram post

Gary Neville has explained his rationale behind his tweet in response to Paul Pogba's Instagram post just after José Mourinho was sacked

Reuben Pinder

“I have only had one problem with Pogba, and that was his post”

Gary Neville has explained his rationale behind his tweet, which told Paul Pogba he could “do one too” after José Mourinho was sacked by Manchester United.

In the immediate aftermath of Mourinho’s sacking, a photo of Pogba smirking was uploaded to his Instagram account, with the caption: “caption this”.

Neville responded by tweeting “you do one as well!”

https://twitter.com/GNev2/status/1074983715544154113

Speaking on Sky Sports as a pundit ahead of Manchester United’s clash with Newcastle tonight, Neville explained his tweet, saying his only problem with Pogba was the post itself.

“Everyone always concentrates on Paul Pogba,” Neville said.

“I’ve only ever had one problem with Paul Pogba and that was his post which I think disrespected José Mourinho in losing his job, which he’s not denied. We know it didn’t come from the club, we know it didn’t come from adidas, we know it came from Paul Pogba, so my view personally is that it was a massive disappointment to disrespect someone who’d lost their job.

“I’ve always said that United are a far better team with him in it.”

Asked whether he is pleased that Pogba didn’t ‘do one’, Neville responded:

“Well, from a football point of view. But you think about the idea of Alexis Sánchez having a bet with his teammate around the manager being sacked…

“If you remember my stance on [Xherdan] Shaqiri at the end of last season when he said those words about the players and the situation there, I do think that these situations are worse when a player disrespects…

“There is a line that needs to be drawn, we can’t just forget everything that’s happened in the past. However, all is forgiven, of course it is, because you move on in football, but the fact of the matter is, he’s now performing how he should be and that is a massive plus for United.”

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