Far-right football supporters in pitch protest over Gary Neville

Neville, who has part-owned Salford since 2014, posted a video to social media earlier this month in which he suggested the phenomenon of “flagging” – tying St George’s flags to lampposts – was designed to “send a message to everybody that there’s something you don’t like”.

It was fuelling a division, he said, that “is absolutely disgusting [and is] mainly created by angry, middle-aged white men who know exactly what they’re doing”.

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservatives, described Neville’s sentiment as “disgraceful”, while Nigel Farage said the Sky Sports pundit was “detached from reality”. The Daily Mail included him in a list of football’s “champagne socialists”.

In a statement released after the incident at Salford, Britain First said it had “teamed up with local Salford patriots to protest the treachery of Gary Neville”. The fans were quickly removed from the field and the game resumed. Salford won 1-0.

It is just the latest example of the increasing politicisation of football.

Last week the government said it was “working at pace” to establish how fans of the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv might be allowed to “safely” attend a Europa League game at Villa Park next month. Birmingham city council’s safety advisory group – the body tasked with issuing certificates for games – had banned Maccabi supporters from the match, citing safety concerns.

West Midlands police said the game had been classified as “high risk” not just in light of the “violent clashes and hate crimes offences” that surrounded Maccabi’s meeting with Ajax in Amsterdam in the same competition last year, but also taking into consideration specific intelligence around the game at Villa Park.

The decision was supported by West Midlands police, the UK’s Football Policing Unit and the Sports Ground Safety Authority. The club issued a statement suggesting WMP had “concerns” over its “ability to deal with any protests on the night”.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, described it as “the wrong decision” and said he would not “tolerate antisemitism on our streets”. Simon Foster, the West Midlands police and crime commissioner, has called for it to be reviewed.

A government spokesperson said last week they were “doing everything in our power” to see if “all” fans might be able to attend. The advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel has written to Aston Villa suggesting that the game going ahead without Maccabi fans would be in breach of the Equality Act.

In 2023, fans of Legia Warsaw were denied entry to Villa Park for a Europa Conference League fixture after violence that left four officers injured. The Polish club was subsequently banned from selling tickets for their next five European away games.

Photograph by Ian Charles/MI News & Sport/Alamy