Manchester United legend Gary Neville has stressed he is not taking on a role at the club despite being appointed to a group to evaluate a regeneration project around Old Trafford.
United confirmed last week they had formed the ‘Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force’ to assess how their home stadium and the surrounding areas can be redeveloped, with new shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe stressing he wants to construct a ground ‘on the scale of Wembley’.
Lord Sebastian Coe, former Chair of the organising committee for the 2012 London Olympics, has been appointed as head of the task force, while he will be supported by Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Neville.
Neville has been critical of United’s Glazer owners since turning to punditry after retiring in 2011, and the former right-back has insisted he is not working for the club and is instead involved due to his ownership of Hotel Football, which sits opposite Old Trafford.
“What’s quite clear is that I won’t take a role at Manchester United,” Neville said. “I’ve been very critical of the ownership over the last couple of years and I have not been offered a role at Manchester United.
“But, what I have always been incredibly passionate about is the surroundings, it doesn’t make me cry but it’s sad.
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“I have a hotel within that acreage that Manchester United own and every time I look across that industrial wasteland and look across at the east of Manchester and see what is being built, one of the best indoor musicaries in the world, one of the best women’s and youth stadiums, one of the best training grounds, one of the most fantastic health and education centres.
“I think there has been no development at all for 15, 20 years around Old Trafford. You have got to win on the football pitch as a football club, but you have to win off the pitch and you have got to generate something around your ground that inspires the local community and inspires millions of people who come to Old Trafford every single year.
“There are jobs to be created and there’s houses to build, there’s commercial buildings to be worked in, there’s education and health and there’s all those things that can happen like a world of…
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