Gary Neville fears Glazer family will REMAIN at Man Utd as ‘significant shareholders’ even if they agree to sell
GARY NEVILLE says fans fear the Glazer family will try to retain a significant stake in Manchester United instead of selling up and walking away.
The Red devils legend’s concerns follow SunSport’s revelation that United’s US owners are demanding a staggering £6billion to gain control of Old Trafford.
Neville said: “There is a focus this isn’t one big charade that the Glazers are running for their brothers and sisters to exit and the couple that want to stay in to stay.”
He added: “The whole emphasis from fans is this has to be the end of the Glazer ownership.
“They’ve run out of money and not invested in the stadium.
“The fans want a new stadium — whether that’s Old Trafford refurbished or a new one rebuilt.
“The sporting project they’ve failed on in the last ten years.
“It’s doing quite well at the moment, third in the league, but it’s not where Man United want to be.”
Neville’s comments came as Raine, the bank managing the sale, told bidders not to run public campaigns which could harm the Glazers’ reputation.
Neville also revealed on his podcast that a majority of fans he polled preferred the Qatari bid, rather than rivals offers from Sir Jim Ratcliffe or a US investment firm.
This was despite Qatar’s treatment of women, migrant workers and the LGBTQ+ community.
But seeing Manchester City and then Newcastle prosper under Middle Eastern state ownership trumped those concerns, Neville concluded.
He said: “They want a debt-free club. They’ve become harmed mentally by debt over these last few years.
“There’s a feeling they want an ownership that can compete with the Middle East states we have in this league.
“We have already got two state-funded clubs.
“They’ve been allowed to come, so I find it difficult to say Manchester United shouldn’t have a Qatari ownership.
“The horse has bolted in that respect, when Abu Dhabi came into Man City 15 years ago and Saudi Arabia came into Newcastle two years ago.”