A few years ago Sky TV invited Dominic Calvert-Lewin onto their Monday night football show to help Gary Neville with his analysis of that evening's match against Everton. Without their injured striker to help them, Everton lost.
It was good TV, but I then suggested to Marcel that something like this would never have been tolerated by Sir Alex Ferguson and the big beasts of the Manchester United dressing room in the past. Injured United players were expected to rest at home rather than be in TV studios in their best designer clothes.
“Yes, you're right, that wouldn't have happened,” Marcel said. 'But that was fifteen years ago. Times are changing.'
Maybe he had a point, but I wasn't sure then and I'm not sure now. One thing that doesn't change in football, however, is the sanctity and privacy of the locker room. Marcel was perhaps the fiercest protector of that during his playing days that I have ever known. He did what he thought was right for his team and his club, but also for everyone else. It could have been annoying for someone like me at the time, but now that we're a few years removed from it, there's something understandable about it.
That's one of the reasons why it was interesting to hear Marcel tell Sky with apparent confidence last weekend that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola had a personal problem with his midfielder Kevin de Bruyne. “There's definitely something going on in the locker room,” Neville said.
Jamie Carragher was also part of that conversation, while the topic was also discussed by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards on the Rest is Football podcast. “It looks like there's some kind of rift,” Richards said.
A football coach can face many humiliations, setbacks and disappointments. Bad results, bad decisions, imperfect statements and behavior. But once he falls out with his big players, his problems take on a whole new dimension. It is often the first step on the way to the door.
Unsurprisingly, Guardiola refuted Neville's comments at the first opportunity. The city was upset. Such a thing could not take root in the truth. De Bruyne also spoke about it after City finally won a match of football against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
“I don't know where people get the problem part from,” said the Belgian. 'There has never been a conflict between me and Pep.'
There was once a time when reporters and TV companies got kicked out of United for things like this. It happened to me. Luckily we've all matured a bit since then, but the responsibility for journalists to get everything right remains the same, and that includes the ex-players who sit in the TV studios before and after games.
Neville has helped advance standards at Sky over the past decade, helping to break new ground in TV coverage of the national sport. He remains the most listenable and most watched pundit in the country.
But here he has stepped on the wrong side of the line and others have followed without pause. Strong opinion, insight and analysis are one thing, but when that coalesces and blurs into assumed facts, it is something else entirely.
Despite all those illegal streams and YouTube clips that have reached their audience, Sky's direct and indirect reach remains enormous. In some ways, players like Neville, Carragher and Roy Keane are as much a part of the Premier League landscape now as they were when they played. The things they say travel around the world in an instant.
And Sky's relationship with the top 20 top tier clubs is crucial to much of this. Sky pays some of the money that partly supports our game and in return demands access to players and managers that allows them to spin their own financial cogs.
Returning to Neville, he was recently critical on his own Stick to Football podcast of Marcus Rashford's decision to spend some time in America. When Sky then chose him as their man to interview new United manager Ruben Amorim for the first time upon his arrival at Old Trafford, he was able to ask him about it. And so the news cycle changes.
Neville reflects on his expertise and it is hoped that others do too. To this day, he still feels uncomfortable about something he once said about former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius. “I went too far,” he said.
He may also need to think about De Bruyne and his relationship status with his manager. One thing is certain. If something similar happened in the city about ten years ago, we would all have been choking in red fog for weeks.
Mo Salah no longer needs to remind us
Seeing Mo Salah score two goals and hit the post again after one of those unfathomable ringing runs in Newcastle on Wednesday was to be reminded of his value to Liverpool.
And it is very clear: its value. It couldn't be clearer if he carried it around Merseyside on one of those old-fashioned sandwich boards.
So he no longer needs to remind us. Salah has made his point three times this season in post-match interviews. Once at Manchester United, once at Southampton and then again at Anfield after last Sunday's win over Manchester City.
It was great for TV stations, websites and newspapers. Great quotes never get old. But how useful are Salah's comments on his contract frustrations at Liverpool? How much does it help his new manager Arne Slot if he tries to win a league title in his debut season? How much does it help his teammates?
Despite Salah continuing to push Liverpool forward on the pitch, his sudden and not coincidental penchant for media interviews could yet reach a point where it starts to do the opposite.
There are two sides to every disagreement. If Liverpool are provoked by Salah's continued urging to give theirs, we will be in for a small war. And that could blow up in everyone's face. Chelsea and Arsenal can only watch and hope.
The winner stays at the London Stadium
West Ham's home game against Wolves on Monday has a 'lose and you're fired' vibe and after seeing the latter fall against Everton on Wednesday, I fear for Gary O'Neill.
The stats suggest his Wolves team can't defend – they've conceded six more than Southampton!! – and now I have seen it with my own eyes.
When it comes to Julen Lopetegui at West Ham, the situation feels more nuanced. When they lost 3-1 at Leicester on Monday, they had 31 shots, but the guy they hired to score goals in the summer has only just returned from injury.
West Ham paid £27 million to sign Niclas Fullkrug from Borussia Dortmund. He is a German international who played in the Champions League final last season. He is also a traditional number nine, a target, suggesting Lopetegui has a certain style of play in mind.
Due to injuries, Fullkrug has only played 74 minutes of competitive football so far. But he is fit now. So surely we should see how that all plays out before we rush Lopetegui out the door?
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