Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal should be relegated from the Premier League if they announce their intention to join a European Super League, Gary Neville has claimed.
UEFA was joined by the top five European Leagues and the English Football Association in opposing the plans, which are reportedly set to be announced on Sunday.
The Premier League's "big six" teams, plus Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter, Milan and Juventus are the 12 sides said to be involved. Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain are not included.
During United's win over Burnley on Sunday, Neville suggested points deductions would be a reasonable punishment and, after the match, the Sky Sports pundit expanded on his fury at the proposals, labelling it a "criminal act against football fans."
"The reaction to it is that it's been damned and rightly so. I'm a Manchester United fan and have been for 40 years but I'm disgusted, absolutely disgusted," said the former Red Devils full-back.
"It's an absolute disgrace and we have to wrestle back the power in this country from the clubs at the top of this league and that includes my club.
"I've been calling for 12 months to have an independent regulator to bring checks and balances in place to stop this happening, it's pure greed. They're imposters, the owners of Liverpool, United, City – they're nothing to do with football in this country, a hundred and odd years of history of fans who love their clubs and they need protecting.
"United aren't even in the Champions League, Arsenal aren't, they're a shambles of a club at the moment, Tottenham aren't, and they want a God-given right to be in there? Stop these clubs having a power base, enough is enough.
"The motivation is greed. My reaction earlier wasn't an emotional one, deduct them all points tomorrow, put them at the bottom of the league and take the money off them.
"You've got to stamp on this, it's criminal, it's a criminal act against football fans, make no mistake about it. Deduct points, their money and punish them.
"If they announce a letter of intent has been signed then they should be punished, heavily, massive fines, points deductions, take the titles off them, who cares.
"Give the title to Burnley, let Fulham stay up, relegate United, Liverpool and Arsenal, those three clubs have the history and should be the ones that should suffer most."
Neville also hit out at the owners of the clubs involved, adding: "They're bottle merchants, you never hear from the owners of these clubs, absolute bottle merchants, they've got no voice, and they'll probably hide in a few weeks and say it was nothing to do with them, they were only talking about it.
"Seriously in the midst of a pandemic, a crisis, football clubs at national level going bust nearly, furloughing players, clubs on the edge and these lot are having Zoom calls about breaking away and creating more greed. Joke."
According to reports, a statement is expected at 21:30 GMT. It has been reported that Madrid president Florentino Perez will act as the competition's chairman, with Liverpool, United and Arsenal owners John W Henry, Joel Glazer and Stan Kroenke also having major roles.
"They'll be amending that statement as we speak, they'll have seen the reaction," Neville said. "They'll be backtracking down the road because they are bottle merchants these lot.
"I'd like to think that United and Liverpool would stand and think something's not right here, let's collaborate with the game to try and get a better competition, a better Champions League, I'm not for everything standing still but this is a grab, when the timing is hideous. What world are these people living in?"
Put on the spot at full-time, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was unable to offer any insight, telling Sky Sports: "I saw the news and the speculation. I can't really say too much, my focus has just been on this game, I got the news today as well.
"I haven't looked into [what it would mean for United] so I just need to sit down and see what it is. The club will probably comment on it later."
Ancelotti hopes to remain at Real Madrid despite Brazil links
Carlo Ancelotti has said he wants to continue at Real Madrid amid links to the vacant Brazil head coach job, but also admitted "the future is unknown".
Ancelotti's name has been strongly linked to the Selecao since former coach Tite left at the end of the 2022 World Cup, with some of his Brazilian players at Madrid speaking openly about it during the international break.
President of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) Ednaldo Rodrigues also recently confirmed an interest in appointing the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss as the next head coach of the national side.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday ahead of Madrid's LaLiga clash with Real Valladolid, Ancelotti seemed to pledge his allegiance to Los Blancos, though stopped short of confirming he would not ultimately take the Brazil role.
"The only thing that concerns me right now is to be successful with this club," he said.
"I will remain here for as long as Real Madrid want me to. I feel affection from the president, from the players, from the fans.
"Also the atmosphere here is quite calm, quite good, and we have two months ahead in which we will try to win some titles and hopefully I will continue here as Real Madrid head coach."
He added: "The truth is that the Brazil national team wants me, they are interested in me and I love that. But then you have to respect contracts and there's a current contract with Real Madrid and I would like to continue here."
The 63-year-old has a deal at the Santiago Bernabeu until 2024, but despite winning LaLiga, the Supercopa de Espana and the Champions League last season, has come under some pressure after falling away from Barcelona in the title race this time round.
"Everyone can think or say what they want, but reality is reality," he said. "In this case it's quite simple, I have a contract with Real Madrid and I want to continue here.
"I love this club and everything that can happen later, I don't know. The future is unknown."
Ancelotti also insisted the rumours about him and some of his players whose contract situations remain up in the air is not affecting preparations as the club aim to end the campaign strongly in the league, Copa del Rey and Champions League.
"We do not talk about these rumours in the dressing room, all we are focused on is Valladolid, Barcelona, Chelsea - all these big games coming up," he said.
Injured Haaland not in Man City squad for Liverpool clash
Erling Haaland was not included in Manchester City's squad to face Liverpool on Saturday after failing to recover from a groin injury.
The Norway star has 42 goals in 37 games for City this season, but had been a doubt after suffering the injury that ruled him out of the recent international break, with Pep Guardiola saying on Friday that his star striker's availability remained uncertain.
Haaland was not even named among the substitutes, as Julian Alvarez took his place up front in the team to face the Reds.
Guardiola made six changes to the team that thrashed Burnley 6-0 in the FA Cup last time out as City aimed to keep the pressure on leaders Arsenal in the Premier League title race.
Ederson, John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish came in for Stefan Ortega, Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Rico Lewis, Haaland and Phil Foden, who has also been sidelined after having his appendix removed.
Jurgen Klopp made two changes from the side that lost 1-0 to Real Madrid as Liverpool exited the Champions League last time out, with captain Jordan Henderson taking the place of James Milner in midfield, while Harvey Elliott came in for Darwin Nunez.
Klopp opted for a front three of Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah as Liverpool looked to give their top-four hopes a boost at the Etihad Stadium.
Klopp confirms Liverpool intend to spend at the end of shaky season
Liverpool will be looking to spend at the end of the season as Jurgen Klopp plans to rebuild the faltering Premier League giants.
After finishing second on 92 points in the league and reaching three cup finals last season, winning two, the Merseysiders have fallen from grace in this campaign, currently in sixth place and out of all other competitions.
Liverpool have been linked with moves for Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham and Chelsea's Mason Mount among others, with the England pair anticipated to cost up to £200million between them.
Speaking ahead of his team's trip to Manchester City, Klopp was not willing to go into specifics, but did outline the club's intention to be active when the transfer market reopens at the end of the season.
"I will not answer the question [about potentially spending nine figures on one player] because we never speak about these kind of things," the Reds manager said.
"We will spend in the summer, that's what I can say, definitely. For who and how many and stuff like this, there is nothing to say about that really."
Klopp is in the process of trying to create his next team at Anfield, having brought in Ibrahima Konate, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo in the last two years, but with ageing stars – particularly in midfield – recognises the need for more work.
"It's clear after a specific amount of time that you need to shuffle things and kind of start anew. That is completely normal," he added.
"It's just rare nowadays that it happens with the same manager because people realise when you sack a manager and bring in a new manager, things change and you readjust the squad.
"After seven years it was clear that we have to do it. There is a moment when you have to make changes.
"We are not where we want to be, where we should be and where we have to be."
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