Gary Neville has defended his recent criticism of the Glazer family and insisted he only "unloaded" on Manchester United's owners after they tried to form a European Super League in 2021.
United's owners joined forces with their counterparts at Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and a host of other leading clubs across the continent in an attempt to try and form a breakaway European league. Just days after its inception, all six English clubs withdrew their intention to join after fan protests at United, Chelsea and Liverpool games in April 2021.
After the collapse of the ESL, all six Premier League clubs involved in the proposal agreed to make a combined "goodwill payment" - effectively a fine - of £22million. It was also agreed that should they try to resurrect similar plans in the future, each club would be fined £25m and deducted 30 points.
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Neville, who won eight Premier League titles during a glittering playing career at Old Trafford, admitted the Glazers' "crime" of trying to "destroy the game in this country and around Europe" was a turning point in his views of the Americans, who have been United's majority shareholders since 2005.
"I properly started to unload on the Glazers post-Super League. Before that, believe it or not, my actual criticism of them was either little or next to nothing, United fans will know that," Neville said on the latest episode of The Overlap: Fan Debate.
"Once I recognised they were an actual danger to the actual game itself and were willing to do something like that, that was when I fully unloaded on them.
"Those six owners who were willing to destroy the game in this country and around Europe, they’ve been let off scot-free. It’s disgraceful that they’ve been let off scot-free, it really is.
"They get fined £3m quid each, they should have been knocked out of the league, the lot of them. What they did was an absolute crime."
Earlier this year, British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe completed a deal in excess of £1bn to buy a minority stake in United, an agreement that has given the 71-year-old's Ineos Group control of football operations at Old Trafford.
Since the deal was confirmed on Christmas Eve, Ratcliffe has made his mark at Old Trafford and already poached Omar Berrada as CEO from Manchester City. Meanwhile, Newcastle United's Sporting Director Dan Ashworth has been placed on gardening leave ahead of joining United in 2026, although a start date could be sooner if the two clubs are able to agree on a compensation package.
