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Since retiring from football, Gary Neville has re-invented himself as a property mogul with a penchant for virtue signalling.
His leftie sermons from social media, while living a life of luxury, have led some to dismiss him as a ‘champagne socialist’.
And he has now added more fuel to the fire – charging eye-watering rent at his new glitzy office building St Michael’s in the heart of Manchester’s city centre- setting records.
Two major companies, S&P Global and Channel 4 have taken units in his new luxury office.
S&P Global are set to pay £44 per square ft and Channel Four are reported to have inked a deal worth £45 per square ft of office space.
Both companies have taken over 10,000 square ft in the building, meaning they’ll be paying hundreds of thousands of pounds in rent.
An estate agent specialising in office space explained that average prices per square ft for an office in Manchester city centre is £32.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘From a property point of view Manchester is in a good position the office market is strong and it is good to see new developments in the city.
The arrival of big name firms is seen by some as vindication for ex-Manchester United defender and Captain Neville following a series of pitfalls
A clutch of huge companies including S&P Global and Channel 4have taken units in St Michael’s, a luxury office in the city centre
‘If the developments are achieving high rent from multi-national corporations it’s good to see, the better quality offices mean better quality businesses will be attracted to the city.
‘But in the wider story Gary’s political and personal views don’t blend with him being involved in such a high profile development.
‘It’s art odds with what he believes in, I don’t see him as a positive figure head for the city.’
At the moment, the property market in Manchester is booming with it seeing the highest regional house price growth in 2025, according to Savills data.
Meanwhile, the demand for office space is huge with take-up in the first quarter of 2025 being 79 per cent higher than in the same period the year before.
Another property expert told the Mail: ‘The record level lettings at No 1 St Michaels to three blue chip tenants shows the dynamism and attraction of Manchester as a regional destination for business.
‘In nearby Liverpool, there has not been a new office development for over twenty years and the local authority are unwilling or unable to engage with the private sector leading to an almost redundant city centre delivery programme.’
The ex-Man United legend has a portfolio worth an estimated £100million and a career as one of Britain’s most respected TV pundits.
In October, Neville, who is known for his left-wing views faced furious backlash from builders at the £400million construction site after he ordered them to take down a Union flag
Millionaire former England international Gary Neville has been a Labour party member since 2022 and appeared alongside Sir Keir Starmer at their conference that September
But his new role as a landlord will certainly turn some heads.
Despite such a busy schedule, he still finds the time to lecture the public on Union Jack flags and racism while posing for pics with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
The arrival of big name firms is seen by some as vindication for the former player who has previously criticised Tory ex-PMs Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, while also campaigning against Brexit.
In October, he faced furious backlash from builders at the £400million construction site after he ordered them to take down a Union flag.
Construction workers who had been flying the flag at his St Michael’s office redevelopment were outraged by his intervention.
One worker accused Neville, who has become a property developer since he stopped playing football, of being unpatriotic and suppressing free speech.
He said that the former England footballer saw the Union Flag as he walked past, and immediately went to the gate and asked to speak to the construction site manager over the radio system, so he could demand it was taken down.
The employee previously told the Daily Mail: ‘He was walking past when he saw the flag flying on the fifth floor along with a Moldovan flag and another one.
‘He got on the radio to one of the workers and started asking why the Union Flag was up there. He only mentioned the Union Flag, not the other two – and said it had to come down.
‘Obviously he is the boss, and we are not going to argue with him. But Union Flags are normally put on building sites. It happens all over the country.
‘Gary Neville played for England, but he won’t let us put a flag up to celebrate the country where we live. It’s caused a lot of anger. This wasn’t discussed, we were just told.
‘He didn’t mention the Moldovan flag or the other. He only had a problem with the Union Flag.
‘Afterwards we had to do “toolbox chats” for everyone about political messages on the building site. Basically we had to explain why we can’t have flags, and we can’t express our political views because Gary Neville says we can’t.’
Neville spoke about the so-called Operation Raise the Colours campaign to publicly fly England and Union Flags from lamp posts.
He said: ‘The division that is being created is absolutely disgusting, mainly created by angry middle-aged white men who know exactly what they are doing.’
The pundit added in his video, which he posted last Friday: ‘Funnily enough, on one of my development sites last week, there was a Union Jack flag put up, and I took it down instantly.
‘Some people might be watching this and thinking, “Gary you are not very patriotic”. I played for my country 85 times and love my country. I love Manchester and I love England.’
Neville has often shared his opinions on political issues, such as saying people should ‘detest’ the working conditions for migrant workers in Qatar and condemning Boris Johnson for ‘fuelling’ racism during his time as Prime Minister.
His comments about Qatar attracted criticism, however – including mockery when he appeared as a guest presenter on BBC1 panel show Have I Got News For You.
Neville criticised poor working conditions and deaths of migrant employees building the competition infrastructure and the Middle East state’s human rights record.
Yet he faced accusations of hypocrisy since he travelled to the country for the tournament and covered it while working for Qatari broadcaster beIN SPORTS.
He defended himself at the time, insisting: ‘I don’t feel conflicted.
‘In the last few weeks that’s come under huge scrutiny. I accept that position because I’m there to be shot at, and people have criticised me heavily as well as our colleagues over on the BBC.
Gary Neville has faced taunts of being a ‘champagne socialist’ – though has described himself as ‘a capitalist’ and ‘entrepreneurial businessman who likes to make a profit’
Gary Neville appeared with Sir Keir Starmer at Labour’s party conference in September 2022
‘But the reality of it is, my view on it quite simply is that I detest workers’ rights abuses, I hate the idea of people not being paid enough money, working in poor conditions, the idea of people not having good accommodation – the women’s rights and human rights abuses. I can’t stand it.
‘But I also have relationships with people in this part of the world and have done for many many years. Those relationships are long standing in our country.
‘The fact that we buy most of our energy from the Middle East, that they own our banks, and the Royal Family have relationships with the Middle East – both sporting and charitable.
‘You think, our government and political parties have relationships with the Middle East – they own London Heathrow airport, they own the London Stock Exchange.
‘It’s football that’s brought the scrutiny – and football tournaments that have brought the scrutiny on issues that exist in these parts of the world.’
But he triggered further outrage at the time – including from then-Prime Minister Mr Sunak – when he likened the Conservative government’s treatment of nurses to the Qatari regime’s approach to migrant workers.
Speaking on ITV’s coverage of the 2022 World Cup final, he claimed conditions for striking nurses and railway workers in the UK were like those faced by Qatar’s huge foreign labour force.
Up to 6,500 migrant workers died in the 11 years spent preparing for the Qatar finals.
Mr Sunak hit back by saying: ‘I think when most people are tuning in to watch Gary Neville they want to hear about the football and watch the football – they don’t want to discuss politics.’
Neville refused to back down today, sharing a tweet about ‘cold-heart Tories putting lives at risk’ by not doing a strike deal with NHS staff.
Earlier that year Neville had announced he was joining the Labour party and shared a platform on stage in Liverpool with Sir Keir at their conference in September 2022.
And their pair appeared together in a Labour broadcast ad during last year’s general election campaign, taking a walk in the Lake District.
Asked by Neville whether he already had a team preparing for the prospect of him entering Downing Street, Sir Keir replied: ‘Yes.
‘I said, “I don’t want you having a conversation on day one, I need you to deliver for me, so you need to be ready to deliver from the get go” – so that’s the footing I’ve had them on.’
Neville said at the time: ‘It was a privilege to spend the morning with Keir filming this in the beautiful Lake District – he is a future Prime Minister who the country can believe in and trust.
‘It’s in your hands. You have the power to make change happen. Vote Labour.’
And he later leapt to the new PM’s defence when Arsenal supporter Sir Keir faced fury over accepting freebies including top-level football tickets.
Neville spoke out at a Labour conference fringe event in September last year, saying: ‘I’m struggling with the free football tickets one quite a bit, to be honest with you, when I look at the absolute corruption we’ve seen in the last five, six, seven, eight years with people getting billions of pounds worth of contracts in VIP lanes.
‘Keir Starmer’s paid for his season ticket to go with his family to watch Arsenal all his life.
Gary Neville appeared alongside Sir Keir Starmer in a Labour election broadcast in June 2024
‘And he’s now being told he can’t go to that same seat, when I’m sure he would – you know he would, everybody knows he would – he’s been told he’s got to go in a hospitality box, a private box.
‘To be fair, a lot of the people complaining about him will end up in those types of boxes themselves, including myself at times.
‘I find it absolutely incredible that this level of attention is now being paid to a Labour PM when I look at the absolute cronyism we watched for years under that lot.’
Since retiring in 2011, Neville has also built a business empire worth an estimated £100million – including a lucrative series of property investments.
He is also paid £1.1million a year by Sky Sports as one of their star pundits, although the broadcaster is now facing threats from some commenters online to cancel their subscriptions in response to Neville’s latest remarks.
The initial plans for the St Michael’s development faced backlash as he intended to demolish the historic Sir Ralph Abercromby pub, which dates back to the Peterloo massacre of 1819, was seen as a howler.
The planning application resulted in thousands of objections and the former full back admitted the saga left him with a ‘bloody nose.’
Neville and his team went back to the drawing board and came back with a redesign which was amenable to city planners, Historic England and locals.
Building work on his latest St Michael’s project being run by his development company Relentless began in 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2027. It is to create new offices, apartments, a hotel as well as bars, restaurants and cafes.
Channel 4 and S&P Global have been contacted for comment.
A representative for Gary Neville has been contacted for comment.