Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville believes if Sir Jim Ratcliffe is successful in his bid for the Old Trafford club it has to come with a defined exit strategy for the Glazer family.
The British billionaire’s offer for United involves buying a controlling stake and allowing brothers Joel and Avram Glazer to remain part-owners.
Ratcliffe’s main rival for the club is Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, who is proposing a full buy-out.
Neville said whomever is successful in a process which is currently in its ninth month the removal of the Glazers, hugely unpopular with fans, had to be a priority.
Asked for his preference of new owner Neville, speaking at the European Football Fans Congress in Manchester, said: “I genuinely don’t mind. I’d like the Glazers to leave in full.
“Even the way they are dealing with the sale process which means it ultimately just drags out as they can’t make a decision.
“There are other examples in the club at this time where they can’t basically deal with things which are difficult.
“I’m hopeful of a complete exit. The Ratcliffe bid, it has been suggested, looks like a part-exit with two of them staying and I don’t like the idea of that.
“If that bid is successful I’d like to think there is a fixed exit for the Glazer brothers say, in two years, so we know there is an exit for them which has agreed.
“So Jim Ratcliffe comes in, he has this level of money then he brings in another investor to take them out and do so within a couple of years.”
On what any new owner should prioritise once they were in place Neville added: “They would have to straightaway have to look at the football side of things because football clubs should be about football performance.
“But you can look at things simultaneously. Manchester United, 20 years ago when they came in and bought the club, had the best team, the best stadium and the best training ground.
“We are now second-rate in all those categories, we are nowhere near it.
“I don’t think Jim Ratcliffe would look at that straightaway. I think he’d look at the football side, getting that right and getting the fans on board.
“I think the Qatari bid, with all the money they have, they probably would look at all other things.”
Neville also believes United have to target higher-quality signings as opposed to “scrambling around for a £55million Mason Mount”.
“When I look at Real Madrid signing (Jude) Bellingham and others signing (Declan) Rice and the business others are doing in the market I just feel we are going to be scrambling around again for the top four. That’s my fear.
“We need two or three players that are really high quality. Two or three players of the Harry Kane-type-quality.
“Kane makes a massive difference as he guarantees goals and guarantees assists. Then you have to deal with the goalkeeping situation and then we need potentially and a full-back.”
In a wide-ranging 45-minute question and answer session at Manchester Metropolitan University Neville covered a number of subjects, from regulation in football through to his ownership of League Two club Salford, but the rivalry at the top of the Premier League was a recurring topic.
Neville was critical of Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group, likening them to the Glazers, and admits Manchester City’s potential for growth scares him.
“The last seven or eight years Liverpool have been successful because of Jurgen Klopp,” he said.
“But you look at Liverpool’s net spend of, I think, £130million over the last five years and what he has done is what Sir Alex (Ferguson) was doing at Manchester United while the Glazers were there.
“He is sheltering the owners, he’s putting an umbrella over the overs to stop the rain falling on them.
“If Liverpool they were actually performing to the investment they have made they would be in trouble.
“I do think they (FSG) have similar traits to the Glazer family and I think it will uncover there in the next few years.”
On City Neville added: “What scares me a little bit about City (is) that the foundations they are building are deep.
“Not just with actual players they have signed but their weaponry around the world at attracting players to all those other feeder clubs they own and the academy players coming through.
“They could be a different level if they really wanted to in producing academy players. I think City are dangerous because the gave a very good academy.”
Keane doubts Man Utd will crack top four under Amorim this season
Roy Keane does not believe Manchester United will get back into the Premier League's top four under Ruben Amorim this season due to a "real lack of quality".
The Red Devils legend was speaking after United started life under the Portuguese with a 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town, as Omari Hutchinson cancelled out Marcus Rashford's second-minute opener.
Keane acknowledged Amorim has to be given time to turn things around at Old Trafford, but does not see United cracking the top four this season.
"You have to give the man a chance," Keane told Sky Sports. "But the threat going forward, it's a huge problem for Man Utd. It's not good enough.
"Do I believe they have the quality to get them back to top four? Absolutely not. The evidence is not there. It's the same old stuff. Predictable and a real lack of quality."
United created 0.9 xG compared to Ipswich's 1.75 and had fewer shots on target (four) compared to Ipswich (six) at Portman Road.
They did have more touches in the opposition box (16 to 11) but had fewer final-third entries (48 to 61) and big chances created (two to three).
Ipswich were extremely resilient opponents after their early setback, and Tractor Boys boss Kieran McKenna praised his side, particularly Hutchinson after he grabbed his first Premier League goal.
"I thought he (Hutchinson) was a big threat first half, naturally more a winger, but most teams are going to press us high and in the spaces in the middle of the pitch having a dribbler in the middle of the pitch who's elusive and hard to pick up can be a big threat," he told Sky Sports.
"I think it's his first goal in the Premier League he'll be happy to have that of his back and he's improving."
"The first half, it's a blow to concede the early goal but I thought as the half went on we grew in the ascendancy, and the intensity of pressing and work on the ball.
"I thought we were the dominant team in the first half and deserved to be going in at least level. Second half in fairness, Man Utd had more control. It was difficult, we had to defend with real discipline on shape."
Leganes 0-3 Real Madrid: Mbappe and Bellingham score as Blancos close on Barcelona
Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham were both on target as Real Madrid moved to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona with a 3-0 win at Leganes.
Federico Valverde also scored for Carlo Ancelotti's side, who still have a game in hand on leaders Barca, who were pegged back in a 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Mbappe ended a goal drought of over 400 minutes after being teed up by Vinicius Junior shortly before half-time, moments after Leganes had surrendered possession near the edge of their own area.
Madrid dominated possession throughout the second half and doubled their advantage in the 66th minute, Valverde drilling a low effort home from a free-kick won by Bellingham.
Bellingham later got in on the act with a header on the rebound after substitute Brahim Diaz rattled the crossbar, as Madrid cruised to back-to-back league wins.
Data Debrief: Dirty work pays off for Madrid
Mbappe's opener, scored at a vital time shortly before the interval, set Madrid on their way to victory on Sunday.
Eduardo Camavinga and Bellingham both pressed high to help the visitors recover possession in the build-up, and Madrid have now scored five goals resulting from high turnovers in LaLiga this season – the most of any team across Europe's top five leagues.
This was the first time Ancelotti had faced Leganes in LaLiga, and he has now beaten all 28 different opponents he has come up against in the competition.
Napoli 1-0 Roma: Lukaku downs former club on Ranieri's return
Claudio Ranieri's Roma return was spoilt by Romelu Lukaku, whose goal against his old club sealed a 1-0 win for Napoli.
Ranieri was appointed Roma boss over the international break, with the 73-year-old coming out of retirement to take charge of the club for a third time.
Yet it was ex-Roma striker Lukaku who decided Sunday's contest at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with his 54th-minute effort sending Antonio Conte's team back to the top of Serie A.
Lukaku was well-placed to convert from Giovanni Di Lorenzo's cutback, bringing up his fifth Serie A goal of the campaign.
Roma, who had just two attempts and managed only 0.07 expected goals (xG) in the first half, woke up after Lukaku's goal, with Artem Dovbyk powering a header off the woodwork from a free-kick minutes later, but the visitors' comeback attempts proved fruitless.
Ranieri's next task is to rally his troops for a Europa League clash with Tottenham on Thursday.
Data Debrief: Ranieri's underwhelming return
There was no sign of an immediate upturn for 12th-place Roma, if they were hoping for a new-coach bounce.
Roma ended the first half with fewer than 70 successful passes (68). It is the first time they have had so few successful passes in the opening half of a league game since 2004-05.
With only three wins to their name in the league, they have won fewer than four matches in their opening 13 Serie A games for the first time since the 1978-79 campaign (also three).
And of course, it had to be Lukaku, who was leading their line last season, that delivered the hammer blow. The Belgium international has been involved in nine goals in Serie A this term (five goals, four assists). Only his former Everton club-mate Ademola Lookman, now a star at Atalanta, has contributed to more goals in the competition (seven goals, four assists).
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
