One of Gary Neville's former Manchester United teammates admitted to calling his first-ever Monday Night Football appearance on Sky Sports 's***'.
Today, the ex-England international is regarded as one of the finest broadcasters in the industry, but that hasn't always been the case.
Neville' first appearance on Monday Night Football came back in 2011, the year after the show was brought back onto our TV screens.
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Fresh from retirement, it was his first real foray into full-time punditry, and according to some, it showed.
Nicky Butt, who played alongside Neville at Manchester United between 1992 and 2004, told the Athletic what he thought of the MNF debut.
"As a manager, you'll have tough times and get cr*p off the press. I know that - and I'm fine with the media," the former England midfielder explained.
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"I wasn't when I started in my first interviews - or my first managerial speeches, but you learn. I remember seeing Nev [Neville] on Sky Sports at first and he was s***, and I told him."
Neville recently reacted to his first MNF appearance, noting how jittery his voice was when interviewing Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini.
Crucially, however, the 46-year-old soon found his feet, to the point where he is now one of the most widely respected pundits involved in the game - as Butt attests to.
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"Now he's the best, by a mile. And you have to be prepared for questions - journalists have a job to do too."
According to the man himself, there was also a great deal of scepticism around at the time concerning his ability to be impartial.
"People were very doubtful about 'Mr. Manchester United' being able to come on to Sky Sports and be neutral and be fair to all the other different teams that I've obviously disliked over the years... There was a wave of opinion and doubt against me", Neville told Sky Sports' Off Script .
"They sent one of the MNF analysis screens to my house about three weeks before the start of the season and I had a couple of weeks with it. But I had huge doubts and didn't really want to do it."
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Manchester City, roberto mancini, Sky Sports, Gary Neville