Gary Neville has doubled down on branding Chelsea 'billion pound bottle jobs' for their display in extra-time against Liverpool in losing the Carabao Cup final.
The pundit's pre-planned jibe has been a significant talking point ever since, with Mauricio Pochettino biting back and calling the quip 'unfair' in a seven-minute monologue.
Simon Jordan also slammed Neville 'and his little Overlap gang', while Gary Lineker and Ally McCoist also criticised him.
And now the former Manchester United man has spoken in detail about his line, whether he regrets it and the thought process behind saying it.
On whether the dig was off the cuff, Neville revealed on the latest episode of the Overlap: 'I'm not going to sit here and say that it was an instinctive and in-the-moment comment, I had one minute to think of that line. Peter Drury, the big moment after the cup final, that's the commentator's moment, and he was on for about 30-35 seconds.
'I knew that [Jamie] Carragher would come in next because I could feel him next to me, wanting to come in, Liverpool scored, and he literally jumped up and turned around to his mate.
'I got progressively angrier during extra time with Chelsea, and I thought to myself, initially I was going to use Boehly's name, but I didn't want to personalise it, then I thought, should I say it, is it too strong?
'I was thinking that as I said it and sometimes when you think that you might think that it's a reason not to say it, but I felt as though it needed to be said, it's a harsh line.'
Having been on top for large parts of the second half, the Blues appeared to relinquish control in extra-time, despite the fact that Liverpool kept bringing on inexperienced young players.
In the aftermath, Pochettino even suggested he felt his team were settling for penalties, which he has since insisted wasn't a plan he implemented.
Neville went on to say he spoke to his Sky Sports producer after the game, concerned his 'billion pound bottle jobs' line was too punchy.
He continued: 'After the game I went to the producer and asked whether it was harsh, he said it might be a touch harsh, but he said, "We're on television, in entertainment and its one of the biggest moments this season, last minute goal", and secondly, "Did you think they bottled it?"
'I said that they froze in extra time, there is no doubt that they were playing with fear and froze.
'I was actually going to do a roll back on my podcast, the day after, and say that I shouldn't have probably used that word 'bottle,' but when I heard that Mauricio thought the team were playing for penalties, I thought that it was the epitome of freezing.'
Neville argues that his interpretation of 'bottle jobs' isn't necessarily as harsh as that of others.
He said: 'I don't put the same emphasis on bottling a game as anybody else. I'm not saying that the Chelsea players will continue to be bottle merchants for the rest of their career or that they can't win a trophy in the next three months, but during that 30mins of extra-time, they bottled it.
'When I think of it today, people say it's a great line, but I don't think of it as a great line, I don't feel proud about it. I remember my David Luiz comment ten years ago, and I regret that because it was personal. I don't personalise a line anymore. Bottle doesn't mean cowardess, they just froze on the day, we froze in games sometimes, in Champions League semi-finals.
'Sometimes you do freeze – Manchester United, the year before they won the Premier League title against Leeds, they bottled the run in. We bottled the run-in, when we were without Roy in 1998, against Arsenal – we've all bottled run-ins.'
'Last year, I said that Arsenal were going to bottle the title race and they did, because it was a feeling that I had.
'I'm also accepting that in period in our careers, we bottled run-ins, and people don't like admitting it when it happens. You freeze, you get heavy legs, you lose your energy, and it becomes too much for you, and it happened to me.'