Neville joins calls to rein in PL clubs
GARY NEVILLE fears a Premier League backlash to Tracey Crouch’s fan-led review of football.
But in a jibe at the country’s biggest clubs, the former Manchester United star says that greed has cost them the right to keep control of the flow of money.
The 162-page report by former sports minister Crouch calls for a Government-backed independent regulator to be appointed but Neville suspects that the Big Six clubs in particular will fight her plans.
He said: “I have no doubt the ‘corridors of power’ will meet and try to come up with a plan to bring forward some proposals which will suggest that we don’t need an independent regulator.
“However, we know what you’re really like now!
“You have displayed what your deficiencies are. You have proved it over a 30 or 40-year period.The FA have not modernised for a long time either.
“But now we need a referee. We need a mediator. Somebody to bang some heads together and get these very intelligent, passionate people to work in unity towards the wider game.”
Neville says the main task of a regulator will be to prevent money “washing down the pyramid into the abyss” with tight controls on spending to “reset the recklessness that has existed in the game, chasing that Premier League ‘Golden Ticket’ which brings such desperation.”
But the top flight needs to start being part of the solution, rather than adding to the problems faced by the game.
“Joel Glazer, Roman Abramovich, Stan Kroenke, Sheikh Mansour, JW Henry and Daniel Levy – those six people should not be in charge of English football,” Neville said. “Does anybody think that they should have the biggest influence? Absolutely not.
“The Premier League clubs have schemed against each other and behind each other’s backs the past 12 months on Big Picture and Super League, so they have proven in abundance that they’re incapable of managing the wider interests of football.”