THEY ARE CRIMINALS!
Neville’s impassioned blast at big six ‘imposters’ treating fans with contempt as they try to break away in name of pure greed
MANCHESTER UNITED legend Gary Neville laid into his former club and the rest of the Big Six for their plans to form a breakaway European Super League in an impassioned broadside on Sky Sports. Here are his powerful words: ‘IT’S been damned, and rightly so. I’m a Manchester United fan and have been for 40 years of my life, but I’m disgusted. I’m absolutely disgusted. I’m disgusted with Manchester United and Liverpool the most. ‘Liverpool, they pretend You’ll Never Walk Alone, the people’s club, the fans’ club. Manchester United, 100 years, born out of workers around here. And they’re breaking away into a league without competition? That they can’t be relegated from? ‘It’s an absolute disgrace. Honestly, we have to wrestle back the power in this country from the clubs at the top of this league. That includes my club. I’ve been calling for 12 months, as part of another group, for an independent regulator to bring checks and balances in to stop this happening. ‘It’s pure greed. They’re imposters. They’re imposters. ‘They — the owners of this club, the owners of Liverpool, the owners of Chelsea, the owners of Manchester City — are nothing to do with football in this country. There are 100-and-odd years of history in this country from fans who have lived and loved these clubs. The fans need protecting. ‘I’ve benefited from football hugely. I’ve made money out of football, I invest money into a football club. I’m not against money in football. ‘But the principles and ethos of fair competition and the rights to play the game so that Leicester win the league, they go into the Champions League…
Manchester United aren’t even in the Champions League. Arsenal aren’t even in the Champions League. We watched them earlier and they are an absolute shambles of a football club at the moment. ‘Tottenham aren’t in the Champions League and they want a God-given right to be in there? They’re an absolute joke and honestly the time has come now — independent regulators, stop these clubs having the power base. Enough is enough.’
‘YOU know what the motivation is. It’s greed. Deduct them all points tomorrow, put them at the bottom of the league and take the money off them. Seriously. You have got to stamp on this. It’s criminal. It’s a criminal act against football fans in this country, make no mistake about it.
‘This is the biggest sport in the world, this is the biggest sport in this country, and this is a criminal act against the fans. Simple as that. Deduct points, deduct money and punish them. ‘They’re bottle merchants. You never hear from the owners of these clubs. Absolute bottle merchants. They’ve got no voice. Seriously, in the midst of a pandemic, an economic crisis, clubs at National League level going bust nearly, furloughing players, clubs on the edge in League One and Two, and this lot are having Zoom calls about creating more greed? It’s a joke. ‘They’ll be amending that statement (due last night) as we speak because they’ll have seen the reaction. They’ll be backtracking down the road because they are bottle merchants, this lot. They did the same with Project Big Picture. They bottled out of that a week later. ‘You talk about big clubs. Manchester United have acted like a small club for about eight to 10 years. They’ve been a small club in mentality. Arsenal have acted like a small club. Being a big club is not just about having a global fanbase — it’s acting properly at the right time. Bayern Munich have always been a decent club. I’d like to think Manchester United and Liverpool would stand there in the face of this and say: “Something’s not right here”.’ ‘I’M not for everything standing still but this is an absolute grab and the timing is hideous. What world are these people living in? ‘They’ve got no loyalty to this country and these leagues. Enough is enough. There isn’t a football fan in this country who won’t be seething and shouldn’t be seething listening to this. ‘Roy (Keane) loves United. I love United. Micah (Richards) loves Manchester City. This is disowning your own club stuff, this. I mean, seriously? How could you even think to come watch a Super League here when you’ve left your 14 Premier League clubs behind to play each other? Your Championship clubs dead? Your EFL One and Two clubs dead? Your National League? Your pyramid system that you’ve fought for for 150 years has gone because of six clubs? ‘It’s absolutely embarrassing and it’s never going to happen. ‘Let them break away but honestly, punish them straightaway. If they announce a letter of intent has been signed, the clubs should be punished heavily. Massive fines, points deductions, take the titles off them, who cares? Give the title to Burnley, Fulham, let Fulham stay up, relegate
Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, because them three clubs are the history of this country and they should be the ones that suffer most. Chelsea, City, new money in the game, they’ve sort of come forward. I’m not happy with them either. Tottenham, I’m not really that bothered about. ‘Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, they should know better. The history and tradition which runs through those three clubs is absolutely enormous. I value it. They leave a lot to be desired at this moment in time. ‘Liverpool Football Club? Seriously? I don’t like them, they don’t like me. But I always thought they were honest, they had integrity, they would look after their people, look after their own. That’s gone. Forget that. ‘If they sign that letter of intent, they’re as bad as the rest of them.’