As far as football podcasts go, Stick to Football is probably one of the biggest – and Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe has made an unexpected appearance.
Gary Neville’s media career has seen him become one of the biggest – if not the biggest – football personality in the British game.
The Manchester United legend has turned to punditry for more than 10 years now and it isn’t just TV that he focuses on anymore.
Neville also has an award-winning YouTube channel called ‘The Overlap’, which features the hit show ‘Stick to Football’.
Roy Keane, Jill Scott, Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher feature every week, discussing the game and bringing in some huge guests.
Rio Ferdinand was the guest appearance on today’s release, but the early stages of the episode actually featured a surprise appearance from PNE boss Ryan Lowe…
Ryan Lowe on Stick to Football
Lowe is good friends with fellow Liverpudlian Carragher and the pair have been seen out and about together over the years.
Few could have expected Lowe to be calling up Carragher in the pre-amble before the latest Stick to Football episode though.
As Ferdinand was explaining that he can’t play in charity matches because of a bad back, Carragher suddenly says “I’ve got the Preston manager on the phone!”
Sure enough, Lowe is on the other end of the phone and his interaction with Neville revealed the the pair actually know each other from years gone by.
Gary Neville on Lowe snub
Neville has been known for running Salford City in recent years and it seems that he actually wanted to appoint Lowe as his new manager at some point.
Carragher revealed that Lowe and Neville have spoken in the past with Neville admitting that Lowe actually turned him down a while ago.
Lowe noted that the pair have had a few chats, with Carragher asking why he turned down a move to Salford, poking fun at Neville’s ‘interference’ at the club.
Lowe joked that he didn’t want to be the only scouser working with Neville, preferring to see how Carragher got on with him in the media.
JC: “You’ve had a chat before haven’t you?”
GN: “Yeah, he turned me down a few years ago.”
RL: “We’ve had a few yeah.”
JC: “Why did you turn him down, was it the money Ryan, or the interference or the TV show?”
RL: “I had to wait to see how you got on well with him first, I couldn’t be the only scouser working for him!”
It’s unclear just when Salford City made that push for Lowe; in 2018, Lowe was still at Bury and Salford City moved on from Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley, appointing a PNE legend in Graham Alexander.
Lowe could have been in the mix then but moved on to Plymouth Argyle in 2019 and then PNE in 2021.
Neville seemingly saw something he likes in Lowe but it just wasn’t to be, but Salford are now managed by another Liverpudlian in Karl Robinson – a manager who coached Lowe at MK Dons and is friends with the PNE boss.