Pitch invaders protest against Neville after flag comments

Pitch invaders waving England flags briefly halted Salford's League Two match against Oldham on Saturday in protest against comments made by co-owner and former Manchester United captain Gary Neville.

Neville, a Sky Sports pundit and property developer, said recently that he had removed a Union Jack flag from one of his building sites in Manchester as it was being "used in a negative fashion".

Union Jack flags, the symbol of the United Kingdom, and the St George's cross flag of England, have sprung up across Britain in recent months.

It comes during a heated debate about levels of immigration in the UK.

Two protestors wearing white hoodies with the slogan "Gary Neville is a traitor" ran onto the pitch at fourth-tier Salford, co-owned by Neville and ex-England captain David Beckham.

One demonstrator tried to plant an England flag in the centre circle and a section of fans joined in a chant featuring an expletive aimed at Neville, before a chant of "England, England".

The protesters were removed by stewards.

Far-right party Britain First claimed responsibility for the incident, posting a video on social media.

"This afternoon, Britain First teamed up with local Salford patriots to protest the treachery of Gary Neville at a football match between Salford and Oldham," it said on X.

Neville, a member of the ruling Labour Party, said in a video post on social media earlier this month that the population is "being turned on each other" by "angry, middle-aged white men who know what they're doing".

The former defender, who posted the video the day after a deadly attack at a Manchester synagogue that police linked to Islamic extremism, said he was a proud Englishman but questioned the need to put up flags.

"I think we need to check ourselves... and start to think about bringing ourselves back to a neutral point because we're being pulled right and left and we don't need to be pulled right and left at all," he said.

Despite the delay, Salford won 1-0.