Gary Neville sparks outrage online after liking tweet about Mason Greenwood's dropped rape charges

Fans are calling out former Gary Neville for liking a tweet about police dropping Mason Greenwood's rape charges.

Now the former Manchester United defender has come out and publicly apologised.

News recently broke that Red Devils forward Greenwood had all charges of attempted rape, engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm dropped.

After being arrested in January 2022, Greenwood was subsequently suspended by Manchester United.

And although the charges have been dropped in court, the club won't reinstate the striker just yet, insisting they will "conduct their own process before determining next steps".

While his future at Old Trafford is still to be determined, one of the club's legends has landed himself in hot water with fans online.

Neville has sparked anger among people after he appeared to like a tweet from Nazir Afzal, who is the former CPS director of public prosecutions.

In the post, Mr Afzal said Greenwood was "an innocent man, that’s all we need to know", before adding "You are innocent till PROVEN guilty".

He continued: "We don’t have trial by media. We don’t have evidence that any witnesses were lying. We don’t do “victim or complainant blaming".

Upon seeing that the Sky Sports pundit liked the tweet, fans were quick to call him out for it.

In one post, which had over 10,000 likes, a bloke said: "Gary Neville liking and retweeting stuff saying Greenwood is innocent based on today. But he’s always the first to lecture people about politics in football, how clubs should be ran etc. Horrific."

Meanwhile, another said: "Endorsing his innocence when he sits on his moral high horse so often is p**s boiling."

As a third added: "He pretends to speak out for worthy causes whilst endorsing rapists in the shadows, coward."

After seeing the backlash on social media, Neville was forced to release a statement apologising.

The ex-Manchester United skipper said: "I liked a tweet relating to the Mason Greenwood news this afternoon from Nazir Afzal.

"This like is being misinterpreted. It was a clumsy like as I obviously condemn any violence against women."

The dropped charges came as a surprise to many – particularly those of us who have heard the sickening audio tapes.

Speaking on the matter, a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “We have a duty to keep cases under continuous review.

“In this case a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material that came to light meant there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.

"In these circumstances, we are under a duty to stop the case.

“We have explained our decision to all parties.

“We would always encourage any potential victims to come forward and report to police and we will prosecute wherever our legal test is met."