FURIOUS Manchester United fans have branded club legend Gary Neville a “traitor” for his defence of the hated Glazer family.
Old Trafford icon Neville said “what is the alternative?” when quizzed on the Americans’ controversial ownership of the club.
Neville has been blasted by Man Utd fans for defending the hated Glazer family who own the clubCredit: Getty Images – Getty
They took over in 2005 and executive co-chairmen Avram and Joel Glazer have been blasted by supporters fed up with their regime.
Those cries of dissent have only got louder this season with United languishing seventh in the league.
But Neville says they will not be bullied into selling the club before they want to – even though United were rumoured to be in talks about being sold to Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Neville told The Times: “I know the Glazer family, met them probably five times in my life, but whatever Gary Neville says they are not going to do anything.
“Trust me. They’re going to sell when they want to sell.
“They’re hardened business people who lived through a campaign of green and gold for two years where the fans were essentially battering them, effigies everywhere and they didn’t budge one inch.
“If Gary Neville comes out tomorrow and says ‘the Glazer ownership is bad for Manchester United’ they’ll just shrug their shoulders and say ‘there’s another one’.
“I took money off the Glazer family from 2004 to 2011 as a player, so the idea that I leave the club and [am] no longer paid by them and start whingeing would compromise me, ‘Oh you were OK when you were taking money off them as a player, and never said anything as a player’.
“And when I was a kid of four, five, I walked into that ground and never once looked over to the directors’ box and cared who was in it.
“Are they [the Glazers] the worst owners in football? No. Are they the best? No.”
One tweet in response to Neville’s comments read: “Friendly reminder, @GNev2 is a traitor and doesn’t deserve the respect of any united fan in the world. End of story. #GlazersOut.”
Another wrote: “Gary Glazer Neville shows his true colours yet again. What an absolute weasel.”
A fellow United fan said: “This is despicable, we will never forget how you turned on us. You come up with disgraceful rubbish.”
Another posted: “Why has @GNev2 suddenly changed his view on the Glazers after months of calling for change? Didn’t expect this.”
Neville said the Glazers are not the best owners in football but said the alternative is not really any better.
He added: “If you said to me, some people don’t believe Sheikh Mansour [at Manchester City] is a good owner of a football club because of the human rights issues in Abu Dhabi, others would say they have been the most incredible owners, because they have invested into Manchester, into the stadium, into the team.
“What is the alternative [to the Glazers]? It [the club] is either going to go to a Russian family, Chinese family, Asian family, a Saudi Arabian family. If it gets sold for £3 billion, it is going to be basically people who have £15-20 billion.
“What are they going to be like? Human rights issues of countries I’ve just mentioned. There is no ideal here.
Some fans have lashed out at Neville
Neville’s standing with fans has gone down
Joel Glazer, left, and Avram Glazer watch their team in actionCredit: AFP – Getty
“The idea of screaming about the Glazers every ten minutes, saying they are not good owners of Manchester United, doesn’t get us anywhere. I’d love owners that pump every penny back into the club on to the pitch, that didn’t take out £20 million a year, or whatever they take out in debt against the club. But I can’t do anything about it.
“Just stand there and campaign and whinge? Stand on the front of Old Trafford in front of Best, Law and Charlton with my placard up saying ‘Glazers out’.
“I’m not going to do that because I haven’t got the solution.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
