Lingard told to grow up and ‘talk to Gary Neville’ by Man Utd legend after ‘disrespecting the club’

Jesse Lingard has been urged to stop talking “rubbish” and “apologise” to Manchester United and the fans after “disrespecting the club”.

Lingard was given a warm welcome on his return to Old Trafford on Tuesday despite his comments ahead of the game, in which he claimed United showed him a lack of “respect” in his final season at the club.

The now Nottingham Forest star told The Telegraph: “I don’t know what the problem was, whether it was politics or whatever. I still haven’t got an answer to this day. I didn’t even ask.

“I’d rather that someone out of respect for me being there that long told me, ‘This is why you’re not playing’, but I never got that. It was false promises.

“I was training hard and I was sharp, I was ready to play … When you’re working hard in training and don’t play at the end of it, it’s very frustrating.

“So this is a chance to say my goodbyes because I never really got that. It will be an enjoyable occasion but we want to win the game. You can’t get caught up too much in it emotionally.”

Those comments have really rubbed Paul Parker up the wrong way, with the former United defender claiming Lingard’s accusations of “disrespect” were hypocritical, insisting the 30-year-old has no-one to blame for his “failure” but himself.

He told BonusBetCodes: “Jesse Lingard wasn’t disrespected at all at Man United, and for him to say that is totally wrong.

“He is a local boy, and now he is disrespecting the club instead of looking himself in the mirror.

“Jesse wasn’t good enough to play for Man United, and he needs to acknowledge that instead of coming up with accusations about the club.”

“To talk about politics as the reasons why he was a failure is rubbish,” Parker added. “You should never use that sentence when talking about football, and if he really wants to talk politics, he should go and talk to Gary Neville.

“One day, he will hopefully be mature enough to see that he disrespected the club by putting this in the newspaper and then should apologise to the club and the fans.”