Arsenal supporters have lodged 576 complaints with Ofcom after Gary Neville suggested Liverpool players should have “absolutely whack[ed]” Gabriel Martinelli during last Thursday’s 0-0 draw.
The former Manchester United defender, working as a pundit for Sky Sports on the Premier League fixture, reacted furiously to an incident late in the match involving Conor Bradley, who went down clutching his left knee near the touchline, prompting a stoppage in play.
With Bradley, 22, down, Martinelli, believing the Liverpool right back was time-wasting, threw a ball at him and then pushed him off the pitch. The winger was immediately confronted by several Liverpool players, but no further action followed.
Neville’s commentary, however, went beyond criticism of the shove itself. “You can’t push him off the pitch,” Neville said. “You cannot do that. That is so poor. An apology is needed. Bradley is being stretchered off. I’m fuming with Martinelli.
“I don’t know how the Liverpool players didn’t go over and absolutely whack him and take a red card. Absolutely disgraceful.”
It was confirmed on Sunday that Bradley will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, having exited the field on a stretcher.
Ofcom has since logged 576 complaints about Sky’s coverage, a total that underlines both the sensitivity around player welfare and the scrutiny now placed on punditry language in a sport increasingly alert to the consequences of incitement, even when delivered as rhetorical outrage.
Roy Keane, Neville’s Sky colleague and former Manchester United team-mate, also condemned the incident, calling it an “absolute disgrace”.
For Arsenal fans, the reaction has not been confined to formal channels. Supporters have been singing “Gary Neville, you’re a w**ker” at games since, amid a growing sense that the broader reporting has misrepresented the core of the backlash, framing it as outrage at Neville calling Martinelli an “idiot”, rather than anger at the suggestion a player should have been assaulted on live television.