There is a school of thought that pundits should seek to avoid parading club allegiances and maintain a show of neutrality. It is not one that Gary Neville is ever going to sign up to. “I might have to come off Sky Sports if Liverpool win the league,” he says, possibly joking or maybe not.

Pundits have always had their loyalties — not least Alan Hansen, once regarded as the doyen — but never more so than with the North West polarity of Neville and Jamie Carragher; especially when the pair were forced to pull on rival Manchester United and Liverpool shirts as a forfeit for lost bets, then hurling them at each other live on Monday Night Football (and then, it should be noted,