Locals in the road where Gary Neville grew up have claimed the outspoken former footballer has a ‘big mouth and should do one’ after he labelled the Union Jack as ‘divisive’ in the wake of the Manchester synagogue attack. 

Neville, 50, recently ordered builders on his £400m St Michael’s scheme in Manchester city centre to take down the flag after he accused ‘angry, middle-aged white men’ of ‘using the Union Jack in a negative fashion’.

Neville, who made over 600 appearances for the Red Devils, provided the industry in a team made up of superstars such as Beckham, Giggs and Ronaldo.

Since hanging up his boots at Old Trafford Neville has transformed himself into one of Manchester’s leading property developers said to be worth around £100m.

The Sky Sports pundit, who is paid around £1m a year by the broadcaster, is also a member of the Labour Party and enjoys a warm relationship with figures such as Sir Kier Starmer and Andy Burnham.

The Mail recently chatted to locals in the Whitehead Park area of Bury where Gary grew up in the 1980s.

The Neville family lived in a very ordinary terraced house opposite a park with a chippy just around the corner.

One of Gary’s neighbours, who asked not to be named, said;’I don’t understand why he wants to get involved in these kind of issues. He should stick to football and stay out of politics.’

Manchester United fan James Knabb said: ‘So Gary played for our flag as an international. 

‘I just don’t understand why the flag has become such a problem. If you go to America they love their flag but over here it’s problem. 

‘The flags of Ukraine and Palestine are seen as cool – and the Pride flag too.’

James’ partner Kim Murray said: ‘So I am a Roman Catholic who grew up in Northern Ireland. 

‘To me the Union Jack was offensive and was all about intimidation. But in this country I don’t see it that way. It’s your flag.’

Local man Ken, who supports Manchester City, said: ‘He is wrong about the flags. 

‘Gary talks a lot of sense about football but he is just wrong on this one.’

Joshua Akemboya, who was born in Ghana and arrived in 2023 as a skilled worker, said: ‘I don’t mind the flags. Everyone has the right to put up a flag if they want. 

‘For me the flags of this country are not a problem.’

Leighton Dunn said: ‘I am a United fan but he is wrong on this. I think we need the flags – other flags are fine but not the Union Jack? 

‘If my neighbour put the flags out I would be buzzing.’

Rashid Saleemi said:’I don’t have a problem with the Union Jack.’

One local man who was approached by the Mail said: ‘Neville was always a big mouth mate and he can do one.’

Diane Potter said: ‘I think Gary is right about the flags. There have been some awful comments about him which are just spiteful. There is just too much hate at the moment.’

The reaction from much of the rest of the nation has been less than positive however. 

Earlier this week, the former footballer was labelled a ‘traitor’ by furious fans following his tirade. 

On Tuesday evening, fans targeted the Sky Sports pundit’s flagship hotel, Hotel Football, as well as his football club, Salford City, to demonstrate against the Manchester United legend’s views, which were shared in a video on LinkedIn.

Fans were seen holding a banner which read ‘Gary Neville. Traitor scum. Own goal Nev’ outside the hotel, which overlooks Old Trafford, while others were filmed tying Union Jack flags to nearby lamposts – with Neville revealing he had ordered a flag to be torn down from his £400million construction site.

Later, the same banner was seen at the Peninsula Stadium, home of League Two side Salford City which Neville co-owns with David Beckham, during the team’s 3-1 victory over Stockport County.

The protests follow backlash from construction workers working at Neville’s St Michael’s office redevelopment site in Bootle Street, Manchester.

One worker accused Neville, who has become a property developer since he stopped playing football, of being unpatriotic and suppressing free speech. 

He said that the former England footballer saw the Union Flag as he walked past, and immediately went to the gate and asked to speak to the construction site manager over the radio system, so he could demand it was taken down.

The employee exclusively told the Daily Mail: ‘He was walking past when he saw the flag flying on the fifth floor along with a Moldovan flag and another one.

‘He got on the radio to one of the workers and started asking why the Union Flag was up there. He only mentioned the Union Flag, not the other two – and said it had to come down.

‘Obviously he is the boss, and we are not going to argue with him. But Union Flags are normally put on building sites. It happens all over the country.

‘Gary Neville played for England, but he won’t let us put a flag up to celebrate the country where we live. It’s caused a lot of anger. This wasn’t discussed, we were just told.’

Neville, who earns £1.1m-a-year as a pundit on Sky Sports, will face no action from the broadcaster following his video.

That decision has enraged his former colleague Matt Le Tissier, who claims he was dismissed by the same network after refusing to wear a Black Lives Matter badge and his views on the Covid pandemic. 

‘He’s basically attacked the demographic of people that are paying his wages, which is a bit strange,’ Le Tissier told students at Southampton Solent University. 

‘I think it depends on what side of the argument you fall on and whether your side of the argument suits the agenda of the current media.

‘Which I think, you know, for the large part is very left leaning, so if you’re slightly right leaning you won’t be given the good graces to make mistakes other people will be given.’

In a separate post on social media, Le Tissier wrote: ‘Watch the media go after Gary Neville after his video………. Oh no, he’s in the WEF club so they’ll leave him alone.’

The former Southampton striker was also accused of putting lives at risk after sharing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories in 2021 and was later met with a fierce backlash on social media after spreading contentious views on the war in Ukraine. 

Neville spoke about the so-called Operation Raise the Colours campaign to publicly fly England and Union Flags from lamp posts as he spoke of his sadness about the Yom Kipper attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Greater Manchester.

The deadly knife and car rampage by Islamic terrorist Jihad Al-Shamie left two worshippers dead and three others seriously injured on Friday. One of the dead was shot dead when a police bullet passed through a door which he was holding from the inside

Neville’s comments about the flag-raising campaign which has been linked to protests outside asylum hotels have been widely criticised on social media.

Some people called for him to be sacked as a pundit by Sky Sports while others accused him of being as a ‘champagne socialist’.

Neville, who has long been dubbed ‘Red Nev’ due to his Left-wing views and support of trade unionists, is said to have built a business empire worth an estimated £100million, largely through a lucrative series of property investments.

Building work on his latest St Michael’s project being run by his development company Relentless began in 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2027. It is to create new offices, apartments, a hotel as well as bars, restaurants and cafes.