How ex-footballer turned business tycoon Gary Neville made his fortune
Former footballer Gary Neville is one of Manchester United's most celebrated players but has since turned to a different career path after retiring from the pitch.
The 48-year-old is making his debut on the BBC show Dragons' Den - which also stars Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett - tonight and previously opened up about what it meant stepping into the Den for the first time to help support investors.
Some might be shocked as to why the retired Premier League player is one of the Dragons on the BBC programme. Gary spent his entire career at Manchester United and played 602 games with them. He captained the team for six years before stepping away from the field. After retiring, Gary tried his hand at many business ventures in order to build his empire. From hospitality to digital marketing, he's tried it all.
Property Development
Gary made a successful career outside of football (Getty Images)
The star and other United players also founded a higher education institution (Getty Images)The footballer retired in 2011 and went on to focus on property development. In 2013, he and Ryan Giggs launched a hospitality company called GG Hospitality. Their first operation was a football-themed restaurant named Café Football in Stratford, London, which opened the same year they launched the company.
Some of their establishments include Hotel Football, which looks over Old Trafford. It was previously under the guise of the supporters club Gary announced in 2011. Gary and Ryan went on to buy the 1906-built Northern Stock Exchange Building for £1.5million in 2013, which would be turned into The Stock Exchange Hotel.
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Zerum, Gary Neville's property consultancy, acted as agents for the application for planning permissions. He didn't only focus on hotels and restaurants. The star and other United players founded a higher education institution in Greater Manchester called University Academy 92.
It finally opened in 2019 and, as of late 2022, has 400 students. His property empire wasn't all sunshine and rainbows as the Daily Star previously reported Hotel Football lost £1.1million in 2021 and £2.1 million the year before. A report said the business was loaned £10.2 million to keep afloat. In quotes attached to the figures, Gary said trading had been "hit drastically" by the pandemic and that the coronavirus restriction "effected the financial figures".
Media Career
He also has a successful career as a pundit (Getty Images)Gary didn't fully step away from football as he continued having a successful media career writing and speaking about sports. Not only did he write weekly sports columns for The Sunday Times of Malta, he also joined Sky Sports at the start of the 2011-12 season as a match analyst on Monday Night Football alongside Jamie Redknapp.
Two years later, he started presenting the Monday Night Football with Ed Chamberlin. Retired Liverpool footballer Jamie Carragher joined a year later, with the two football stars being praised for their personalities and analysis. During the same year, The Daily Telegraph hired Gary as a columnist.
Along with Sky Sports, the star has been a pundit in ITV's coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2020 UEFA European Championship. His TV skills, detailed research and great analysis resulted in him being called one of the best football pundits on British TV.
Other Ventures
Gary joint-owns League Two side Salford City alongside former teammates David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and his brother Phil. In 2017, Gary co-founded a production firm called Buzz 16, which is behind the likes of The Overlap, Soccerbox and Class of '92 Full Time.
He later sold his controlling stake as part of a deal that was reported to be worth £200million. He was previously a senior investor in E3 Creative - a digital creative agency specialising in online marketing and corporate strategy. However, he left the business in 2019.
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