Neville accuses Man Utd of 'playing football manager' before Ratcliffe arrived
GARY NEVILLE has accused the Glazers of “playing football manager” at Manchester United.
The mood at Old Trafford has changed since the announcement that Sir Jim Ratcliffe has bought 25 percent of the club and will run its football operations.
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Man Utd have won seven of their nine games since the news and off the pitch, British billionaire Omar Berrada has already been appointed CEO of Manchester City.
And Ratcliffe is also preparing a move for highly rated Newcastle transfer chief Dan Ashworth.
Asked about his possible arrival and the change already evident under Ineos, Neville said: “It got to the point where we were ridiculed for mentioning the Glazers every time Man Utd lost a football match.
“People would say, 'Well, the Glazers aren't the ones who play football.'
“But for ten years every Manchester United manager operated without a CEO, without a sporting director, without a football director.
“That's madness, forget negligence, that's just madness.
“Obviously Sir Jim Ratcliffe comes in and appoints a CEO who has worked at a football club before and everyone is applauding him for that – that's staggering.
“I can't believe this hasn't happened yet. At any other club in the country this should never happen.”
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Neville went on to criticize the Glazers, saying: 'They have shown blind loyalty to people who have been very good to them over a long period of time.
“Ed Woodward was at the club for 10 or 12 years and they believed everything he said.
“It was a bit like they were playing Football Manager.
“We can literally go and watch the best players without there being any serious people running the club.”
He highlighted the signings of Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as evidence that the Glazers have signed big names with a lack of long-term vision.
Di Maria arrived in 2014 for £60 million, staying for just one year and scoring four goals before joining PSG for a fee of £44 million.
Falcao was loaned out that same year and struggled to make an impact, finding the back of the net just four times.
However, Ibrahimovic was a success as he won the Europa League and Carabao Cup with Man Utd, scoring 29 goals in two seasons.
Ratcliffe is determined to take the club in a different direction in the transfer market, rather than getting carried away by the biggest players.
And he is ready to relentlessly rebuild the squad, with Neville convinced that the current players are fighting to prove their worth to the new owner.
The pundit said: “What Ratcliffe has come in and done is said to them all: 'I'm looking at all of you – you're all playing for your future.'
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