Gary Neville, Mark Goldbridge and the Overlap conveyor belt we’re so over…

There are approximately three levels to small talk.

The first is overhearing another group’s very tiny talk, which might just be the most boring thing on earth.

The second is shooting the breeze with your mates, knowing which buttons to press and the perfect anecdotes to drop into conversation. Best accompanied by an alcoholic drink and a bag of Scampi Fries. This is humanity’s elixir.

The third is the nether-zone. Surface-level conversation with acquaintances to fill time, lest they ask you how you ‘actually’ are or if you’re dating anybody.

Messi or Ronaldo? Top five Premier League goalkeepers of all time. Who will win the Ballon d’Or? Gary Neville’s whole post-football career has been about squeezing these topics like it’s the last lemon on earth.

On Monday, Neville’s network The Overlap announced a new daily show that launches on Friday. It’s best read in the tones of that infamous Mitchell and Webb sketch:

‘Your new 4pm fixture, catch every weekday on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

‘Squad depth matters. Gerrard, Redknapp, Ferguson, Hart & more. Football. Football. Football. In that order.’

Or, as the top reply on X said, ‘All the same people who are on everything else, on something else… all of the time.’

The Overlap had previously been bespoke, Neville going for a dog walk with Roy Keane or taking Paul Scholes around Alexandra Park and gaining genuine insight into the people behind the public persona.

This feels almost quaint now, as quaint as when football used to be 90 minutes on a Saturday, Match Magazine or FourFourTwo and imaginary tournaments in the garden.

Now guests such as Tim Sherwood, Ashley Young and Jamie Redknapp will be discussing whether Arsenal are the worst Premier League champions ever.

There simply isn’t that much to talk about. So you can expect the regurgitation of the same old talking points, led by data analysis, and the rising prominence of in-jokes as the product.

Stick to Football has long become parody, all about Neville raving about dunking custard creams in tea, the inner workings of Manchester United under Fergie (again) and ignoring Jill Scott.

And the network continues to sprout tentacles like some mutant octopus from a rejected Doctor Who script.

This week, The Overlap are advertising an interview with Jack Wilshere, Dimitar Berbatov’s appearance on Stick to United, two episodes of the tiresome Fan Debate and the launch of Overlap Daily. Inevitably brought to you by Sky Bet and Sky Vegas.

The other point of interest is the platforming of Mark Goldbridge. His channel, The United Strand, was acquired by Neville earlier this year.

Once a firebrand outsider, Goldbridge has become the establishment and is front and centre of the Overlap’s expansion.

There have been tributes to everyone’s favourite ex-policeman breaking into this cosy club, praising his work ethic and business instinct, while conveniently ignoring that he’s lowered standards like a nightclub allowing barefoot entry.

It brings to mind the chicken and egg question. We’re told people want this and giving them what they want is paramount, but don’t question how they’ve been conditioned into this.

Because everything is like this now – people don’t leave the house without headphones, meals are accompanied by the white noise of inane chatter and watching an entire film without second screening feels almost impossible.

It’s all filler. Think back to six months ago. Can you remember anything The Overlap discussed? Nothing sticks because the conveyor belt is relentless.

Neville himself is anti-imagination. He’s also anti-creativity, preferring to push lowest common denominator discussion in place of genuinely interesting content.

After all, you can’t Scrooge McDuck with polemics from the Basque Derby, people formulating their own opinions or simply switching off from football.

It’s the same as his relationship to Huel; he’s recognised the problem of insufficient food breaks, but shills for nutrient-dense slop instead of asking for the realignment of the working day so people can eat a proper meal.

Ultimately, Neville is a conformist with no desire to change a system that works perfectly well for him.

You’ll be told that we can simply ignore Neville, Goldbridge and The Overlap. But that is precisely how these business practices work; they are intended to make that impossible. They are modern-day workhouses, clip factories pushed by an algorithm.

The one irony of the situation is Sky paying Neville big bucks as he cheerfully builds a media empire that will eventually put them out of business. The wolf decked in dadswear from M&S.