Neville on sacking of Mourinho: It’s rotten
Gary Neville has accused Manchester United’s hierarchy of “playing football manager with the biggest club in the world” and being “rotten to the core”.
He has also blamed Ed Woodward, the United executive vice-chairman, and other board members for surrendering too much power to players and allowing “the tail to wag the dog”.
The former United captain was reacting to an unconfirmed report yesterday that claimed Jose Mourinho would be sacked as the club’s manager this weekend, regardless of the outcome of the Premier League match against Newcastle United at Old Trafford.
Neville has claimed United knew they would be getting a confrontational manager when they appointed Mourinho and believes the Portuguese deserves more support than he has received. The former England defender was previously critical of Woodward for failing to deliver the centre half Mourinho wanted in the summer transfer window, especially after awarding the manager a new contract in January.
“It comes to a point where this would be the fourth manager in six years,” Neville said. “You have to look at who is bringing them in. The dressing room is leading what is happening. The tail is wagging the dog.
“Get some control back. Get some leadership. Undermining Jose on the eve of the season on why he couldn’t sign those centre backs — who is qualified in that football club to tell Mourinho he cannot get them?
“For me, I am reacting a bit emotionally but I don’t particularly care, you could say it’s unprofessional but I am talking as a fan. It’s difficult running a football club, playing in a team but you have to operate in the right manner. But right now it’s rotten to the core and it has to be coming from the top.
“The people in the boardroom are nowhere near good enough. They are playing football manager with the biggest club in the world.”
But Neville’s former teammate, Paul Scholes, claims the situation could be retrieved if Mourinho stops moaning about United’s shortcomings and instead focuses on their strengths and picks a settled team after too much upheaval.
“I’m sick of him moaning about what he hasn’t got when I think he really should be concentrating on what he has got,” Scholes said.