Pitch-invading 'Salford patriots' 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.