Gary Neville admits that he felt "really sad" after Manchester United were dumped out of the FA Cup on penalties to Fulham, as he felt the indifference of the fans' emotions.
Typically, Neville is seen in the Sky Sports studio or high up in the gantry when he's at a game back at Old Trafford, commenting on the current state of affairs at United.
However, with BBC providing broadcast coverage on Sunday, the former Red Devils star decided to return to his old club purely as a fan as he took a seat among the 67k-plus fans there watching the fifth-round tie with Marco Silva's impressive Fulham – but any hopes of retaining the trophy they won last season were dashed.
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Fulham's Calvin Bassey opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time as he found himself free to nod home from a corner, before United captain Bruno Fernandes struck back in the 71st minute to level the game and eventually take it to penalties after 120 minutes of football.
The Cottagers came out on top in spot kicks, after Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee's penalties were both saved by Bernd Leno, sending United fans home disappointed once again – including Neville.
While appearing on the latest episode of 'It's Called Soccer' alongside co-host Rebecca Lowe, the ex-United full-back spoke about his team "letting the game drift away" from them in normal time – and his unusual emotions at full-time when the final penalty was saved.
Premier League legend Neville said: "I thought it was really sad on Sunday being there. Look, I've been there in bad games over these last few seasons – last 10 seasons – in these last few months, but it actually just felt very different me not working the game, being sat in the crowd and listening to the fans around me.
"I'm usually on the gantry at Old Trafford, and you're not normally exposed to what fans are saying around you, but when you're in a crowd, you can hear what people are saying, you can hear what they're thinking, and I thought it's really sad this – really sad."
Neville mentioned the fans' ongoing protest against the ownership of United, with the Glazers and INEOS having both come under scrutiny of late, but confessed that he felt the indifference of many fans' emotions to their exit from the FA Cup.
He continued: "We've obviously still got the massive protest and songs against the owners going on to my left in the Stretford End. But then you've got obviously, a case of the fans around you who are despondent. They really are sort of down in the dumps, and you know, the saddest thing for me was walking out of Old Trafford.
"The final penalty gets missed, it is what it is, penalties can happen. You walk out of the stadium, and I walk across the forecourt of Old Trafford in front of the statue of Best, Law and Charlton. There's thousands of fans there and it was really quiet there. There wasn't really any anger, there wasn't really any sort of emotion negatively, and I just thought, 'they're having the life drained out of them'."
Neville finished by praising the fans for continuing to turn up in their thousands despite the poor form of their team at the moment, as he stated he could feel the "enthusiasm" to begin with – but was then hit with the lack of interest afterward.
He added: "I used to go to Old Trafford when I was younger as a fan, and I don't walk across the forecourt too much anymore. After a game, you obviously do a podcast, you're in the studio, and you let things go. But I just thought 'God'.
"The fans still turn up 75,000 every single week, the enthusiasm is there to turn up, the hope is there, and they're leaving that stadium feeling like that, and I really felt it on Sunday walking out with them."
Neville and the rest of the United fans will be hoping the tide will turn on Thursday evening, as Ruben Amorim's men take on Real Sociedad in Spain in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie. The game will kick off at 5.45pm UK time as the Red Devils travel to the Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastián. On Sunday, 14th-placed United will be back at Old Trafford to face second-place Arsenal in another daunting task.
