Gary Neville insists it is a 'fact' that Man United will rise to the top again

Gary Neville insists Manchester United’s malaise won’t last forever and that it is ‘inevitable’ they will become winners again under Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos’ supervision.

Monday’s 4-0 hammering at the hands of Crystal Palace was the latest blow in what has been a wretched season for United.

Boss Erik ten Hag has already lost more games this season than any other United manager in the Premier League era - 13 defeats - one more than in 2021/22.

But Neville believes a club the size of Manchester United can’t be kept down for long.

‘As sure as the sun will rise, Manchester United will start to win again. It’s a fact,’ he said.

‘When that is, I don’t know. It can be no guarantee, but I know that these things go in cycles.

‘I lived my whole childhood watching Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal win trophies, win the old Division One, and was patient.

‘I had to wait until I was 18, 19 when Manchester United first won a league title in my life – and then we won a load of league titles, and now we’ve not won one for 10 years.

‘I know full well that in my lifetime – hopefully – Manchester United will win trophies, but they will win trophies again. We will get it right, just as Liverpool will, just as Arsenal will.

‘You can’t keep these great clubs down. I’m sorry, they’re too big, they’re too established, they’ve got a great history, they go through lean periods.’

Neville was speaking from a red carpet event for the world premiere of a new three-part documentary charting United’s ’99 Treble winners.

Part of that historic run saw Sir Alex Ferguson’s players overcome major adversity in an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, when they went down to 10 men, before going on to lift the trophy.

Now, Neville wants to see Ten Hag’s charges ‘defy the odds’ to defeat Manchester City at Wembley.

‘Look, I hope in three, four weeks that this FA Cup final against Manchester City, which is such a tough game, we know how good City are, but if they can just defy the odds who knows where that might lead to,’ he said.

‘You know, in 1989-90 Sir Alex Ferguson won an FA Cup that put belief into him, into a group of players.

‘They then went onto win a Cup Winners’ Cup, then went onto win the League Cup, then went onto eventually win a league title.

‘It was building block by block, step by step and that could be just around the corner, or it could be a few years away, but they will win again Manchester United. It’s inevitable.’