The Glazer family will listen to offers for Manchester United.
We know that because of the statement released earlier this week but there is a sense of fans being cautiously optimistic about the future. A lot of supporters are against the idea of American investment firms or groups that plan to use Manchester United as a sports-washing project.
While most of the conversation has surrounded potential candidates for the takeover, Gary Neville has revealed that he regrets not speaking out against the Glazers’ ownership of Manchester United sooner.
Neville was a key player when the controversial 2005 takeover happened. There were countless opportunities to criticise the Glazers at the time, but he feels the failings off the pitch were masked by the success that came under Sir Alex Ferguson.
“I don’t want to come up with excuses [for not speaking out as a player],” Neville told Sky Sports. “It was probably because we were successful and we were managed by Sir Alex Ferguson, who stuck to football.
“No player or member of staff ever spoke out against the leveraged takeover. When it happened we got on with winning trophies, winning the Champions League and winning Premier Leagues. And the club, to be fair, carried on being successful. I worked on the theory at the time that we could have worse owners. They were quite passive. I never saw any interference while I was at the club as a player.
“But when Sir Alex Ferguson left, it’s then I started to realise they were only successful because of Sir Alex Ferguson. They haven’t been able to develop a successful sporting project without him.
“So the fact of the matter is, they’ve taken dividends out, they’ve not developed the stadium, they’ve let the training ground go to ruin. They really are second-class when it comes to the status of infrastructure at the club and the facilities. That can’t happen when you’re not successful on the pitch. So you put all that together and you get to a point whereby enough is enough.
“I started to speak out about two or three years ago. Many fans will say I should have done it earlier and I can’t disagree with them. I can have regrets about it all my life, but the reality is I have spoken out in the last two or three years quite a lot. I haven’t enjoyed what I’ve seen. The signs were obviously there 15 years ago and most fans were right. But let’s make sure we don’t jump out of the frying pan into the fire.
“I’ve expressed my concern about state ownership. I’ve expressed my concern about US investment. But whoever comes in, we need to know what the manifesto is. We need to understand what they’re going to do in that first five to seven years.”
Cristiano Ronaldo’s bombshell interview with Piers Morgan included criticism of the Glazer family – but he was sent his marching orders before the Glazers overshadowed his announcement by telling the world that Manchester United was up for sale.
I reckon United will go for more than Ronaldo’s silly NFTs…
