Gary Neville has told the Glazer family that they are “no longer welcome at Manchester United” following the club’s withdrawal from the European Super League.
After Chelsea and Manchester City withdrew, the remaining four clubs, including United, all followed suit to end a tumultuous 48 hours for the game. The quartet all announced on Tuesday evening that they would no longer take part on the controversial league. Arsenal actually offered an apology, while United also made a statement.
The adversity is unlikely to stop at their withdrawal, however. Indeed, there is likely to be a number of casualties too as the fall-out continues. Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman since 2013, has already announced he’s to quit.
However, Neville insists Woodward is “only the trunk of the tree” and says the roots need removing too.
Neville has been fiercely against the European Super League ever since its announcement on Sunday night. But, speaking to Sky Sports, he’s not letting the matter rest and has now told the Glazers to ‘get out’ at Old Trafford.
“We obviously don’t know why the timing is now. The leeches could have thrown him under a bus, there’s no doubt about that.
“Or it could be that the sensible thing has happened, that Ed Woodward knew it was going to get too hot in the kitchen for him in the next few months and he needed to get out of there.
“The fact of the matter is that, not just Woodward, but every single executive that sits at the Premier League table, every single executive that’s on these UEFA or FIFA committees, they need throwing out of that club because there’s no way they can be trusted.
“Ed Woodward knew his time in football was finished, probably this morning. He’s probably done that to keep away from the criticism that would’ve come his way in the next few months.”
Neville attacks the Glazers
Neville insists the Glazer family are at the heart of the issues and has called on them to sell up.
“However, Ed Woodward is the trunk of the tree, we now need to go for the roots. I said last night I felt complicit, they’ve declared their hand.
“While they were sat at the club never making a statement, never showing their hands, never doing media conferences, yes they were taking money out of the club, yes they’ve leveraged against the club, there’s nothing we can do about that once the club became a PLC.
“They attacked every single football fan in this country with what they did.
“The Glazers have no place in Manchester anymore.
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“We have to work hard together to ensure that ownership rules in this country are changed. We have a system whereby this cannot happen.
“Whether that’s Government intervention, independent regulator, whether it be a fan-owned club rule, whatever it is – we have to make sure that this is the catalyst for change.
“The people have spoken. We were on the brink of anarchy if this continued.”
Neville hopes clubs get fined
Neville believes following the Premier League club’s withdrawal that it will lead to the ESL’s collapse.
And he hopes they all have to pay expensive fines to Florentino Perez, the president of the competition, to secure their release.
“The Glazers have no place in Manchester anymore.”@GNev2 believes the ‘roots’ of #MUFC‘s problems lie with the ownership. pic.twitter.com/eedqaoFXUZ
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 20, 2021
“City have enacted their withdrawal procedure, and it looks like Chelsea are on their way. It’s done, it’s finished,” he said.
“They’ll have their PR team, comms teams, scrambling around now. They’ll be trying to make this look as lovely as possible in the next 24 hours. They will be working out the right time to withdraw from it.
“Perez might have them on a £100million fine – I hope so. I hope Perez has got them on a massive fine to withdraw, the lot of them. I hope they basically end up eating each other.”
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