Gary Neville Makes Passionate Plea To Manchester United Owners, Tells Them Five Things They Must Do

Gary Neville called on the Glazer family to step down as Manchester United owners in the latest episode of The Overlap but failing that, he proposed an ambitious five-point plan of action.

Since their takeover in 2005, when Malcolm Glazer took control of the club with more than £500 million worth of debt, disgruntled fans have expressed their frustration at the club owners.

Last year, thousands of United supporters protested against the Glazer family outside the Lowry Hotel, days after an organised protest took place outside Old Trafford, where an American flag was burned and anti-Glazer banners were displayed.

Their support towards the proposed European Super League still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of many United fans, with some suggesting they must leave Old Trafford in the club's bid to build a brighter future.

And now, in a passionate plea on The Overlap's fan debate alongside fellow pundits Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane, former United full-back Neville has made his feelings very clear.

“In terms of the Glazer family, post the Super League they said they were going to communicate with the club, they said they were going to change things. They’ve not changed anything at this football club,” Neville said on The Overlap fan debate live.

“My view is there’s a problem right at the very top, there is a massive problem. I think they’ve had 10 years to prove they can be good football operators at Manchester United, beyond Alex Ferguson and David Gill. They’ve proven they can’t do it, they’ve proven they can’t build a successful football club here in Manchester without being propped up by the team Sir Alex Ferguson had and himself being there."

Neville continued: “To me, at this moment in time, the first thing that should happen is they should sell the club. Because of the Super League, because of their 10 years of failure without Sir Alex Ferguson, and the team and the squad he had, I think they should go.

“But if they really want to stay, because you can never force the Glazer family to sell, then they’ve got to do four or five things.

“They’ve got to stop taking the dividends out of the club if they want to reset the culture, because when the owners are pulling money out of the club at the expense of the fans, at the expense of the project, at the expense of a successful team, it’s a bad message from the very top.

“Number two, they’ve got to pay off that debt, and they can do that by selling £500million in shares to the fans, not take it out of the club and pay off that debt. They can then rebuild that stadium with £1billion, and it does probably need knocking down to be fair. It doesn’t need renovating, it needs a new stadium.

“That money can be funded from a 20-year contract by getting a sponsor in at £60-70million a year, call it ‘Something’ Old Trafford, but we have a brand new stadium, and again it resets the culture of Manchester United having the best stadium in the world. That needs to happen.

“They then need to build a new training ground. Me and Roy were part of the squad when we moved 22 years ago. We’ve now got a training ground that’s behind Tottenham and the other training grounds.

“They need to put £100-150million a year into a proper sporting project, along with those four things, and then you can say the Glazer family have reset the culture from the top. They’ve got to do something that resets the culture and the principles of the football club. They’ve not done that for 10 years, they need to do it now because the fans are on the edge again.”

You can watch the full Overlap debate below.

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The Overlap is a YouTube channel from Gary Neville in partnership with Sky Bet.