“You what the motivation is, it’s greed.”
Gary Neville has been lauded for his impassioned take on plans made by six of English football’s top clubs to break away and join a European Super League.
Ahead of a Uefa announcement, on Monday, about expected changes to the Champions League format, several of Europe’s top clubs had been at work, behind the scenes, to present a money-spinning alternative.
The league proposals would see the big sides from Italy, Spain, France, Germany and England compete in a league that would not have relegation and could potentially be a death knell for smaller clubs across the continent. PSG and Bayern Munich are not said to have committed to the project.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville lambasted all the clubs that were showing an interest in such a move. He declared:
“The reaction to it is that 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. Absolutely disgusted.
“I’m disgusted with United and Liverpool most. Liverpool pretend, like, ‘You’ll never walk alone’ – the people’s club, the fan’s club. Manchester United, 100 years, borne out of workers around here and they’re breaking away into a league without competition, you can’t be relegated from.
“It’s an absolute disgrace and honestly we have to wrestle back the power in this country from the clubs at the top of this league and 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 to stop this happening, it’s pure greed.”
The former Manchester United and England defender went on to take shots at the owners of the English clubs for chasing money over decades upon decades of footballing tradition.
“They’re imposters, the owners of this club [United], the owners of Liverpool, owners of Chelsea, Manchester City,” he declared.
“They’re nothing to do with football in this country, there is 100 odd years of history in this country, of fans that have lived and loved these clubs, they need protecting, the fans need protecting.
“Manchester United aren’t even in the Champions League. Arsenal aren’t even in the Champions League. Watching them earlier on today, they’re 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.
“An absolute joke, and the time has come now, for an independent regulator to stop these clubs. Enough is enough.”
"I'm disgusted with Manchester United and Liverpool most!"@GNev2 takes aim at the clubs looking to jump ship to a European Super League pic.twitter.com/VWwSpyF8uZ
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 18, 2021
Neville’s take on the whole situation was praised by legions of football fans across social media over the course of the day, as clips of his comments spread far and wide.
With the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A threatening to kick all sides that has proposed an interest in the break-away league out of domestic competitions, the tide is already turning against the rebels.
It will be fascinating to see how this plays out in the coming weeks and months.
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