Gary Neville has long been an outspoken exponent of his former club, Manchester United, saving significant criticism for the owners, the Glazer family.
A family that have in many respects financially crippled the club and stopped them moving forward.
Only now, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s partial takeover that allows him full control of the footballing side of the business, can the Old Trafford faithful and ex-players such as Neville have a genuine reason for believing that the good times are on their way back to the club.
There are a number of issues that Ratcliffe and his INEOS team need to address, not least bringing in the right director of football, believed to be Newcastle’s Dan Ashworth, currently on gardening leave from the Magpies.
Indeed, it’s that particular appointment that Neville has such strident views about.
“Should Man Utd pay more money to get Ashworth now? If that’s the sporting director that they want and they want him to start straight away,” he was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
“He will have restrictions to not be able to work at another club in the same space for 12 months, I’m sure of that.
“Man Utd might say ‘we can’t wait that long so we will pay for it’. It is imperative that Man Utd get someone in place before the next transfer window.
“If you don’t pay £10m to get Ashworth out, and you get another window wrong, you could blow another £100m. So it’s important they get the right people in.
“What Man Utd need to do is stop the rot. When Man Utd phoned any club in Europe they were going here we go its bingo time we are about to get paid a load of money.
“Ashworth won’t allow that to happen – he’s quite resilient and measured around those situations.”
Clearly, the initial decisions that Ratcliffe takes will have a bearing on what happens in the immediate future and, one suspects, in the summer transfer window.
If his team doesn’t hit the ground running and makes any mis-steps, we can be assured that Neville will be holding him to account just as much as he has the Glazer’s over the past few years.
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