Gary Neville claims Manchester United fans are worried the Glazers could end up staying at the club
Gary Neville believes Manchester United fans are still fearing the Glazer family could retain control of the club despite the Premier League giants being put up for sale, the Daily Mail reports.
A soft deadline was set for Friday to purchase the club, with numerous offers funnelling in from around the world.
A Qatar bid led by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jaber Al Thani announced they wanted to buy ‘100 per cent of the club’ to restore it the summit of world football.
They are expected to be rivalled by Ineos chief and Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, but there is no rival bid coming from Saudi Arabia – thought to be a chief challenger to Qatari investors.
Giant US hedge fund Elliott has offered to provide financing for a bid that would not be a full takeover.
This would benefit existing co-owners Joel and Avram Glazer as they could stay on at the club, but also allow other members of the Glazer family to sell unwanted shares.
Neville believes fans are now concerned that the bidding process may not see the end of an ownership long despised by supporters.
“I think what scares Man Utd fans most is the feeling this Man Utd ownership are running this process to drive a massive price up to try to somehow establish a level which means two of them can stay in and the rest of the family that want out can be bought out by an American fund who wouldn’t mind owning a minority or significant share but not the entirety of the share,” said Neville on his SkySports podcast.
‘That’s the biggest concern. The whole emphasis at this moment in time from Man Utd fans is this has to be the end of the Glazer ownership.
“They’ve run out of money, they’ve not invested in the stadium… the fans want a new stadium, whether that’s Old Trafford refurbished or a new one rebuilt, we need new facilities. Man Utd’s stadium is behind a lot of the big [clubs] in Europe,” Neville said.
“I still think there is a focus that this isn’t one big charade that the Glazers are running to try to establish a value which would be for their brothers and sisters to exit and the couple that want to stay in to stay. There’s a priority at this moment in time for them to go,” he noted.
