Gary Neville said he feared being attacked by a “very aggressive dog” owned by a man who verbally abused him and his wife while they walked through Manchester earlier this week.
In a video posted on X/Twitter, a man recorded himself swearing at Neville as he and his wife were in the street, calling him a “f------ w-----” several times and a “p----”.
Neville, who stopped when the man called his name and appeared bemused by the harassment, said on his Stick to Football podcast that he wished he had filmed his abuser to discourage him from posting the footage online.
Addressing the incident for the first time, Neville said: “He had, I’m presuming, a very aggressive dog on a lead. I thought he was going to let the dog go. I thought it was one of them where he was gonna go like that [releasing the lead].”
Neville and his wife, Emma, attended the James concert in Manchester with former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane. “That’s the bit for that’s wrong,” Neville said. “It’s the first time it’s happened like that, but when you’re with your wife...”
Neville’s co-hosts on Stick to Football condemned the incident. “That was a mean one. It’s just horrible,” Ian Wright said. “It was so out of order,” added Jill Scott, who said she would have hit him.
