Phil Neville received a huge volume of abuse on Twitter after his co-commentator efforts in England’s opening World Cup match – some of it finding its way to a radiator salesman who shares his name.
The salesman has now offered to switch places with his footballer namesake, describing Neville’s Match of the Day commentary as ‘terrible’.
The 60-year-old Arsenal fan, from Hadleigh, Suffolk, began receiving Twitter abuse during the England v Italy match on Saturday evening.
He received thousands of tweets – even death threats – to his online handle @philneville, intended for the ex-footballer whose handle is @fizzer18.
Mr Neville said: “I’ve had comments about my name for years and it’s always been a bit of fun.
“But now I have some sympathy for what celebrities go through – some of it wasn’t very nice at all.”
He added: “I watched the match and didn’t realise who it was at first but I thought the commentary was terrible.”
Mr Neville also revealed that he had been offered a commentary role for England’s next game against Uruguay, having played football himself before becoming a referee.
He said: “I don’t know what will come of it but I know a bit about football so who knows, maybe I could do a decent job.”
Mr Neville also added that he thought his namesake had improved as a studio pundit for last night’s Ghana-USA match.
He said: “I think Phil Neville, the footballer, has taken all the stick on the chin.
“I saw him as a pundit last night and he did a good job so hopefully he can continue to improve.”
Ex-player Neville’s monotone commentary style had prompted 445 complaints, according to a BBC spokeswoman.
But Neville told Radio 5 Live: “I think the biggest thing I learned is that co-commentary is harder than what I thought it was going to be.
“I welcome all the feedback you get and it’s a welcome to the social media so you come in after a game, you’re hyped up – it’s just like playing, doing a co-commentary – you’re focused for 90 minutes, you turn your phone on and you’re getting some lovely messages.
“But I’m really looking forward to the game on Thursday. I’m back in the co-commentary booth and I will get better. It was my first live gig and I’m just glad I helped everybody sleep back home.”
Main image courtesy of Sky Sports via YouTube, with thanks.
