Phil Neville doesn’t say many controversial things.
Older brother Gary tends to have more of a reputation for putting his neck on the line with his stances on footballing issues while Phil has much more of an on-the-fence reputation.
But that changed on Wednesday morning when Phil seemed to suggest that legendary match official Pierluigi Collina had accepted an illegal payment to disallow a goal for Everton in a Champions League qualifier over a decade ago.
Sky Sports reporter Bryan Swanson met Collina this week for an interview and tweeted a quote from the Italian in which he announced his intention to clamp down on instances of players crowding officials in his new role as chairman of the Fifa Referees Committee.
https://twitter.com/skysports_bryan/status/844448628357902336
Neville quoted Swanson’s tweet with an enquiry of his own, as he wrote: “Ask him about the goal he disallowed for Everton vs Villarreal #bung”.
A bung, in football, is an unauthorised and undisclosed payment to a figure to incentivise him/her to make a certain decision so Neville seemed to suggest that Collina had gained financially from the decision to rule out the below header from Duncan Ferguson.
Collina blew for a bizarre foul with a controversial call that still eats away at Toffees fans.
But Neville quickly regretted his tweet as it was deleted from his account almost immediately after it had been posted. But not before anticipatory supporters screenshot it because nobody gets away with anything in 2017.
Nobody!
He had plenty who agreed with him.
@skysports_bryan yes Phil!!!!!!
— Mark Warren (@EvertonianMark) March 22, 2017
Some helped spread the hashtag.
collina probably thinks nobody noticed #bung
— dean bramhald (@nisi_optimum) March 22, 2017
@skysports_bryan even as a Liverpool fan, thought that was disgusting! Why was he even there??!! #bung
— Chris (@christwm1) March 22, 2017
Others didn’t agree as much.
@skysports_bryan the amount of refs in Fergies pocket and you have the nerve to call out Collina a renowned Ref the world over
— JFT97 🙏🏻 (@floatliner) March 22, 2017
One man just wanted clarity.
https://twitter.com/MeenMrMustard/status/844477448523829248
This probably encouraged the delete.
@skysports_bryan could be a letter coming to you from an Italian solicitors Philip.
— Niall B (@Berminn27) March 22, 2017
Just a passer-by minding my own business.
https://twitter.com/CraigSheppard11/status/844449434398265344
