Gary Neville uses World Cup final to try to turn the spotlight on to British government

Gary Neville criticized the British government’s attitude towards strikes in the country in the build-up to the World Cup final.

The main tournament concludes with the final between France and Argentina after 64 games in the last four weeks in Qatar.

There has long been controversy surrounding the World Cup being played in the Arab state for various reasons, including its treatment of migrant workers, criminalization of homosexuality and its poor human rights record.

Gary Neville criticized the British government in the run-up to the World Cup final

And during the run-up to the final, in a discussion about the tournament as a whole and the controversy that followed, Neville used it as an opportunity to focus attention on the British government and its response to the recent strikes in the country. .

In recent weeks, a wave of strikes has swept the country, with workers in the transport network, the NHS and the civil service taking industrial action over ongoing disputes over pay and working conditions.

Neville said: “The Kafala work system, which obviously through football has started the conversation and has been removed here now in Qatar, but it’s abhorrent and we should hate low pay, we should hate poor accommodation and working conditions. “.

“We can never accept that in this region or any other region and it is worth mentioning that we have a current government in our country that is demonizing railway workers, ambulance workers and terribly nurses.

‘In our country we have to look at workers’ rights, but when football leaves, we have to take back workers’ rights wherever they go because people have to be equal and be treated the same.

‘We can’t have people being paid an absolute pittance to work, we can’t have people in nasty, disgusting accommodation. It shouldn’t happen here.

‘That should not happen here with the wealth that exists. But neither should it be with nurses in our country, where our nurses have to fight for an extra pound or two.’

Neville’s fellow pundit Roy Keane has also argued that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been ‘tainted’

When Qatar won the tournament, there were also allegations of corruption and bribery in the bidding process.

While FIFA has cleared Qatar of corruption allegations following its own investigation, it has admitted there was “potentially problematic conduct by specific individuals” during the bidding process.

And as the discussion of Qatar continued in the studio, Neville’s fellow pundit Roy Keane argued that despite enjoying four weeks of football on the pitch, the Qatar World Cup has been tainted by the controversy surrounding it. surrounds.

“This World Cup is tainted,” he told the ITV studio.

That is the end result. Soccer has been great, but soccer was always going to be great because you have world-class players, but it’s tainted.’