Garry Neville’s strike rant during World Cup was completely ridiculous & hypocritical, Harry Redknapp tells TalkTV
HARRY Redknapp has called Gary Neville a “hypocrite” as he described his rant over strikes as “completely ridiculous”.
The former Manchester United star has come under fire after launching into a political rant over the UK’s crippling strikes during ITV’s World Cup final coverage.
Ex-Tottenham Hotspur manager Redknapp tonight admitted he found Neville’s comments comparing nurses striking in the UK to migrant workers in Qatar as “completely ridiculous”.
Speaking to Jeremy Kyle on TalkTV, Redknapp agreed it was “hypocritical” of Neville to make the comments after landing a huge payday to cover the World Cup in Qatar.
Redknapp said: “How can you compare what’s going on out there with what’s going on with train drivers and nurses.
“We want to see nurses get more money, of course we do, they’re fantastic.
“But you can’t compare the two situations. It’s completely ridiculous.”
Thousands of migrant workers have reportedly died in the Qatari construction industry since the World Cup was awarded to them in 2010.
Concerns were also raised over the rights of fans travelling to the event – especially LGBT+ individuals and women, who rights groups say Qatari laws discriminate against.
But in the run-up to the Argentina vs France kickoff, Labour party member Neville, 47, likened the human rights disgraces in the Arab country to the strikes taking place in the UK.
It has sparked more than 440 complaints to media watchdog Ofcom.
He said: “The working system of Kafala which obviously through football the conversation has started and it’s been removed here now in Qatar but it is abhorrent and we should detest low pay, we should detest poor accommodation and working conditions.
“We can never accept that in this region or any other region and it is just worth mentioning we’ve got a current government in our country that are demonising rail workers, ambulance workers and terrifyingly nurses.
“In our country we’ve got to look at workers’ rights but when football goes, we have to pick up on workers’ rights wherever it goes because people have got to be equal and treated equal.
“We can’t have people being paid an absolute pittance to work, we can’t have people in accommodation that is unsavoury and disgusting. It shouldn’t happen here.
“That shouldn’t happen here with the wealth that exists.
“But it shouldn’t happen with the nurses in our country either where our nurses are having to fight for an extra pound or two pounds.”
Fans rushed to social media to blast his claims.
One fumed: “Had to switch World Cup over earlier due to Gary Neville’s rant about the government.
“A champagne socialist there to talk about the World Cup. Thinks he’s now a third-rate politician.”
Another said: “Switched to BBC despite wanting to watch Keane.
“You have Neville being thick forgetting about the estimated 6500 migrant deaths equating that with strikes in UK”.
The ex-football ace has since been blasted by some former staff at his Hotel Football in Manchester, who say they were “overworked and underappreciated”.
In a scathing review on job site Indeed, one worker said: “If you love being overworked and underappreciated then you’ve found you calling.
“Typically understaffed and overworked. Training is non existent.
“Always work over my contracted hours and never get overtime pay, I was told to take time in lieu but that’s impossible when they are no staff to cover that.”