A man who enjoyed a multitude of glories at Old Trafford has called for his former club to make massive changes
Gary Neville has taken aim at at his former club, blasting the players, recruitment policy and staff, all the way up to the upper echelons of the Manchester United hierarchy.
“As a group of players, I don't like them,” the ex-full-back told Sky Sports. “You grow to like teams and you grow to not like teams.
“I've never not liked a Manchester United team, I've always thought the team can win, the team can lose, the team can draw, but I really struggle with this team.
“Tottenham finished sixth in Mauricio Pochettino's first season in charge and that's the level this Manchester United are at.
“The idea that this United team is better that it suggests – it's not. It's a really average team for what United needs to be.
“What pains me the most is that the two clubs that I dislike the most (Liverpool and Man City) I see them doing everything right. I see a spirit, a hunger, a resilience, a toughness, going until the end.
“The idea that United should be talking about winning the Champions League and the Premier League at this moment is nonsensical. Forget it.
“The first thing they have to do is cleanse the dressing room, cleanse the club. That's from the top to the bottom, too, it doesn't just start in the dressing room, above that needs to be dealt with as well.
“They need someone to run the football side of the club. This is a five-year project.”
The man who Solskjaer replaced, Jose Mourinho, was roundly laughed at when he said guiding United to second place was his greatest achievement, but Neville has since changed his opinion.
“Jose Mourinho, at the time, told us that it was his greatest ever achievement finishing second with that team,” he said. “We all laughed at him - he's joking, that's just Jose playing games.
“Maybe he was right.”
Reddevilsalways
55
I said that many times these people are not playing as a team..They are playing as a group of individuals..They are not passing the ball to other players..Neville is right about this we have to cleanse this dressing room and this board for causing this problems..I never thought we will be in this situation but we were and it's time for reinforcements to be made..As he said bringing old players as a sporting director without a clear knowledge is not good for business at this time..we need someone like monchi who never have any problem to sell a player he think if that player doesn't do good for the team.. Right now we need a director like him to clean and buy a new set of players..Woodward has to give them power to operate..If they succed it will be a good comeback for us..One thing I won't agree with Neville is he said it will be a 5 year process..my view is if we get good director and better players we will be back in 2 years..
zaslmptyz
52
I'm sick of all the butthurt fans turning on ole now and saying jose was the savior. we know he was right about the players but that doesn't take away from the fact that he wasn't doing a great man managing job as a coach as well. stop kissing joses butt now. I have nothing against him as much as these wishy washy equivocative fans. let's support ole now and work on a complete squad overhaul with a definitive 5 year plan and a structure to mlm over forward. enough with the "jose was right" stuff. 98% of the fans were abusing him when ole was doing great and now that he's not, they are back to jose? now I understand why all clubs hate United. a big section of our fans (not everyone) is annoying given the large size of the fanbase.