Gary Neville speaking on a podcast
Gary Neville is unimpressed with how Manchester United was run by the Glazers
Gary Neville admits Ineos have their work cut out to turn things around at Manchester United following years of 'horrific' management from the Glazers.
Neville, 49, spent his entire playing career at Old Trafford and has watched from afar in recent years as the club have fallen from their perch at the top of the Premier League, which they last won in 2013.
The unpopular Glazer family have called the shots at United since 2005 but things fell off a cliff when Sir Alex Ferguson and his right-hand man, the club's former chief executive, David Gill, left their previous roles.
And Neville, speaking in an interview with The Mail, says the Glazers' failure to plan for life after Ferguson and Gill is one of the major reasons behind their current malaise.
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He said: "The succession planning [is to blame for United's plight]. When I think about it from a business perspective, what happened post Sir Alex and David Gill was horrific. One hundred per cent it falls upon the owners in the Glazer family.
"The last 10 years - to run a football club without a football department is just absolutely bizarre. How that could not be seen either by the Glazer family or by the executive that was in place is madness.
"When I left 500-600 people were working at United. That went to 1,200. How has that happened?"
The landscape at Old Trafford changed a little over a year ago when Sir Jim Ratcliffe acquired a minority stake in the club. He and Ineos now have full control of sporting operations as per the terms of the deal, although the Glazers are still at the club.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Neville feels Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos need time to turn things around after years of mismanagement by the Glazers
Ratcliffe has been heavily criticised for raising ticket prices and overseeing significant staff redundancies during his first year at the helm, while United have continued to struggle on the pitch. But Neville says Ineos need to be given time to try and turn things around.
He continued: "When they came in, my preference would have been for a complete takeover and for the Glazer family to leave, and it still would be because ultimately they've run their course. But at least there's been disruption.
"You've got to give Ineos three or four years to try and work out what the hell's going on. Six months in, they've found it bloody hard. It's an oil tanker. Until you're in there, you can't understand the scale of United and the enormity of everything. From keeping Erik ten Hag to the decision to bring in (sporting director) Dan Ashworth and then for him to leave, they're obviously finding it bloody tough.
"There's no doubt that there's been turbulence and wrong decisions made. The club needs a shake. There's a lot of things that need changing.
"To be fair there’s a new CEO, new sporting director, new technical director, new CFO. You've got complete and utter transformation in six months."
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