Gary Neville’s co-commentary during Manchester City’s dramatic 2-1 win at Liverpool has been questioned by some fans on social media.
Neville was on Sky Sports duty for the entertaining Anfield encounter alongside Peter Drury on Sunday afternoon.
The match sparked into life in second-half stoppage time when Erling Haaland scored the winning goal from the penalty spot before Dominik Szoboszlai was sent off in the 113th minute of the match.
Following Szoboszlai’s red card it was unclear how long there would be left in the match, due to all the stoppages, but Neville soon cleared that up as Sky Sports commentators are able to listen to the audio as the referee and the VAR communicate – something that has been public knowledge since 2024.
But despite Neville revealing how long was left, it was much to the chagrin of some football supporters who incredulously claimed that the title race has been ‘fixed’.
‘There’s 15 seconds in this game left by the way we’ve just been told,’ Neville originally said before correcting himself: ‘It’s not what we’ve been told, it’s what we’ve overheard the guy saying. He’s not talking to us.’
Despite clarifying his comments it sparked a debate on social media with one Arsenal fan writing on X: ‘Smoking gun. Neville advises @FA_PGMOL @talkSPORT @BBCMOTD @BBCSport What a fix. Just admit he is on pay roll. We all know.’
That fan’s theory was shut down by many who informed him that broadcasters can hear what VAR says.
‘The commentators can hear the communications between VAR and the ref, it was well known before this,’ replied one user.
‘How’s that a fix?’ questioned another.
Another bluntly and quizzically replied: ‘So tell me if I’ve got this right……you think the refs listen to Gary Neville??……..and on top of that, you think Utd stalwart Gary Neville wants arch rivals City to win???’
That Arsenal fan’s accusation was in line with another’s conspiracy theory who wrote: ‘Gary Neville: “There’s 15 seconds in this game left by the way we’ve just been told”.
‘He then tries to backtrack and say he’s overheard it. Sky Sports & VAR are compromised.’
Again, this ignited a conversation on X. Broadcaster Rex Kirby corrected the supporter, writing: ‘I worked on the game I heard VAR, broadcasters can hear VAR but I wish fans could too.’
An American-based Arsenal fan also replied stating this is the norm with their overseas broadcasters: ‘The Peacock announcers have no problem saying they hear the conversation between them.’
The above post was validated by another who wrote: ‘They said the same on the American broadcast.’
An Ipswich fan commented too: ‘It’s no secret that the commentary teams can hear VAR. The game had to go beyond the original added time so the VAR just assisted the ref amongst the chaos I imagine. Nothing untoward at all.’
Following Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth last season, which saw William Saliba get sent off, Arsenal fans had a conspiracy theory that referee chief Howard Webb was influencing decisions. Saliba was dismissed after fouling Evanilson and VAR jumped in to help referee Rob Jones make the decision, with the official heading over to the screen. Webb himself was in the crowd and was seen holding his phone and listening to something via an ear piece.
However, Sky Sports presenter David Jones clarified that by stating Webb was listening to how they got to the decision to send off Saliba. Within his explanation too he explained that Sky Sports also have access to listen to VAR audio as well.
He said: ‘There have been one or two people you might have seen on social media speculating about what Howard Webb was up to in the crowd, the head of the PGMOL. He’s got that earpiece in as well, he’s got his phone out.
‘But what we understand he is doing is listening to a match feed of the VAR officials and their communication with the on-field officials, as we do as broadcasters. But he has no input, he has no ability to talk to the officials who are actually making the decisions. He’s not trying to [influence things], he’s watching the game.’
