‘What’s he got in his hand?’ – Gary Neville baffled to find out what Ian Wright carries with him as a pundit on live TV
IAN WRIGHT revealed all to Gary Neville about the secret behind his success as a pundit.
The Arsenal and Manchester United legends were fierce rivals on the pitch during their heyday but are now colleagues on Sky Bet’s The Overlap podcast.
Neville is a regular on Sky Sports, while Wright will leave his role working on Match of the Day this summer.
However, he also works for ITV, the channel he was on duty for in Man United’s thrilling 4-3 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Neville watched the game on television from home, but he revealed that he noticed something about Wright for the very first time.
Speaking on The Overlap, Neville said: “I was watching the game on Sunday, and before the game, I said to my wife and daughter, ‘what’s he got in his hand?’ It’ll be a pen…”
Wright then intervened and said: “I have a real problem. Notice how I’ve been able to sit still with this in my hand. Without this in my hand, I can’t sit still.”
Neville reaches over and asks for a look at the small black object before asking if it is a “stress mechanism” – to which Wright confirms it is.
“I have to touch my face, I’m all over the place and looking for stuff. But when I’ve got that then I’m able to just have it in my hand and concentrate.
“I try to hide it but it makes me very calm and chill.”
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Roy Keane, who was also in the ITV studio at the weekend, then tongue-in-cheekily joked that Wright did not have it when he made the controversial FA Cup semi-final draw.
Neville then said: “That didn’t feel right at the end, you pulling it out like a Marks and Spencer’s bag.”
Wright replied: “Do you know how many people got crazy over that?
“It’s only four balls in. I think people were a little bit upset about the fact that we didn’t know who was one, two, three and four.
“But the main thing is they’re so stringent on ‘Don’t look in the bag, make sure the bag is tight before you open it so you’re not looking’.
“In the end people say ‘What is he doing the Stevie Wonder for?’ I wasn’t doing Stevie Wonder. I was just making sure I wasn’t looking in like this [moves his head away] and it looked like Stevie Wonder.
“But I didn’t want people to say ‘Ah, that draw was wrong’.
“Still people slaughtered you, but I thought it was a great draw.”
There is no evidence to substantiate claims the draw was fixed.