Gary Neville dishes out ‘billion-pound bottle job’ jibe again – but not at Chelsea this time

Gary Neville has called Rishi Sunak a ‘billion-pound bottle job’, recycling the term he branded Chelsea following the Carabao Cup final back in February. The former Manchester United defender aimed a dig at the Prime Minister, who cancelled all interviews with the media on Saturday afternoon.

Sunak was scheduled to speak to journalists from across the country shortly before mid-day after skipping a D-Day event. But, this arrangement was cancelled by his team due to ‘timing issues’, so Neville aimed a jibe at the Conservative party leader.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, the Sky Sports pundit quoted a post announcing Sunak’s cancellation, tallying 2.5million views and almost 50,000 likes. Neville wrote: “Billion pound bottle job.”

Hundreds of upset users flooded his post with messages regarding the Prime Minister’s future. Earlier this year, Neville branded Chelsea as ‘the blue, billion-pound bottlejobs’ as Liverpool cruised to victory in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

“In extra-time, it’s been Klopp’s kids against the blue, billion-pound bottlejobs,” said the former Red Devils captain during his commentary on Sky Sports. “Liverpool have been absolutely sensational.

“Those young players have been incredible. Klopp must be so proud,” added Neville. “However, for Chelsea, I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. Mauricio Pochettino’s players have shrunk. They have shrunk right in front of our eyes and in front of their fans.”

READ MORE: Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham wage bill compared to Premier League rivals

READ MORE: When Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham will discover new Premier League fixture list

Neville’s comment caused quite the stir on social media, with Chelsea supporters demanding an apology. The Sky Sports pundit later conceded his dig at the Blues was too harsh.

Speaking on Sky Bet’s Stick To Football podcast, he said: “I got progressively angrier during extra time with Chelsea, and I thought to myself, initially I was going to use Boehly’s name, but I didn’t want to personalise it.‌

“Then I thought, ‘Should I say it, is it too strong?’ I was thinking that as I said it and sometimes when you think that you might think that it’s a reason not to say it, but I felt as though it needed to be said, it’s a harsh line.

“After the game I went to the producer and asked whether it was harsh. He said it might be a touch harsh, but he said, ‘We’re on television, in entertainment and it’s one of the biggest moments this season, last minute goal.’

“And secondly, he asked ‘Did you think they bottled it?’ I said that they froze in extra time, there is no doubt that they were playing with fear and froze.‌

“I was actually going to do a roll back on my podcast, the day after, and say that I shouldn’t have probably used that word ‘bottle’, but when I heard that Mauricio thought the team were playing for penalties, I thought that it was the epitome of freezing.”