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‘There are worse owners that are English’ – Neville defends Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea reign as he puts club up for sale

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GARY NEVILLE took aim at English football club owners whilst praising Roman Abramovich after he announced he’s selling Chelsea.

Abramovich, 55, put the club he’s owned for nearly two decades up for sale amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Gary Neville has defended Abramovich’s record as Chelsea owner after the Russian decided to sell the club
Neville also claimed that Abramovich is a better owner than many of his English counterpartsCredit: Getty

The Russian is one of several oligarchs facing sanctions by the English government following the Kremlin’s Ukrainian siege.

To avoid falling foul of any monetary and travel restrictions, Abramovich has decided to sell Chelsea for £3billion.

And he has already had some interested buyers – most notably UFC icon Conor McGregor – who revealed he wants to throw his name in the hat.

Upon hearing the news of Abramovich’s decision to flog the Blues, Neville defended the Russian’s record as Chelsea owner.

In the eyes of the former Manchester United defender, Abramovich has run Chelsea better than many English owners of clubs in the country.

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Speaking to Sky Sports, reported by the Daily Express, Neville explained: “The reality of it is, Chelsea will be OK.

“Irrespective of whether you like the idea of Russian money coming into English football or not, Roman Abramovich has been a very good owner for Chelsea Football Club.

“There are worse owners that are English.”

Ex-Chelsea defender John Terry mirrored Neville’s view by hailing Abramovich as the ‘the best owner in the world’.

Neville’s support for Abramovich comes as a surprise after he called the Russian a ‘coward’ for relinquishing control of Chelsea to trustees at the club.

Neville claimed that Abramovich’s move was just a ploy as he’ll still be running Chelsea along with performance advisor Petr Cech and transfer supremo Marina Granovskaia.

Although Neville, who co-owns Salford FC, didn’t explicitly name which English owners he was speaking about – he did previously slam Newcastle’s former Brit chief Mike Ashley for removing the magic from St.James’ Park when he took over.

But Ashley recently sold the club to Amanda Staveley and her Saudi-backed consortium.

Over the years, Neville’s also been critical of his former team Man United’s American owners The Glazers – and has called for them to sell the club on several occasions.

His latest gripe with The Glazer family came after they concocted a plan to join the European Super League with eight other European giants including Arsenal, AC Milan, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham.

However, the plot was foiled amid overwhelming backlash from the football community worldwide.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk

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