Manchester United club legend and television pundit Gary Neville is known for his very strong opinions, and a lot of the time he is really spot on. Sure, he sometimes makes his opinions even stronger than they really are/need to be in order to get attention, but such is the cost of doing business in today’s sports media landscape.
He’s given a very important and thoughtful take on the current state of his former club, and how to go about fixing what is wrong with them. And make no mistake about it- there is a whole lot wrong with United right now.
The club is on their fourth manager since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013, following a Premier League title winning season, and the club has not seriously contended for the league or the Champions League title since.
Simply put, the club has not shown any signs of being able to continue the success that they enjoyed under Ferguson, finishing below the top four in all but two of the post-Fergie campaigns. The team has continued to be a runaway success in terms of marketing and sponsorships, and they’re basically proverbially printing money at Old Trafford right now.
With strong financial resources, United have spent huge in the transfer market, but the spending has been extremely wasteful. There seems to be no coherent player acquisition or development plan, and that’s not surprising, given how the most influential man in the club, Executive Vice President Ed Woodward, is an accountant by nature.
According to Neville, the team needs to get back to their roots, focus on youth development, and finding the promising young players- then grooming them along.
Neville believes the club has lost its way, gotten away from what made them great in the first place. He believes the true solution will take time, as the club must embrace the long-term, big picture approach (Solskjaer has made comments indicating that he agrees with this approach). It will require patience to pay off, and Gary Neville is willing to wait.
He also believes in manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to get the job done. Among the supporter base, opinions are mixed on Solskjaer, and that’s understandable given how Jekyll and Hyde the team was in 2019 under his watch.
“As long as the principles are right, play good football, bring the right players through, try and win as best you can, don’t give in, good attitude; for me I can wait for two, three, four, five years for the club to be successful — it isn’t a problem for me,” Neville said.
“I lived through 20 years as a fan when I was growing up where the club wasn’t successful.
“I’m not in a rush I just want to see the right things happen and with Ole here as a coach there’s an opportunity for that to happen.”
There are a lot of ways to go about trying to fix United, and there are no easy answers. One thing’s for sure- the club’s continuing to just throw money at the problems is getting them nowhere. Neville’s ideas are a lot easier stated than implemented, but he’s on the right track, and he should be listened to.
“The club have always signed young, emerging British talent and I don’t think that should change,” Neville continued. “It would seem to me that the club would like to go back down that route.”
“I’m encouraged by the fact the club are giving opportunities to young players, even in these times because for me that’s something that’s part of Manchester United’s history — it’s what Manchester United is.”
“You just have to sign the right players and give them the platform to perform and the belief and opportunity. I’m not in a rush with Manchester United, I don’t have to see them be successful in the next 10 minutes.”
Neville knows that this summer transfer window will be critical to the rebuild and revamping, and he has trust in Solskjaer to get it done the right way.
“People are a lot happier because they’ve got somebody at the helm who they know will love the club, and they know he will always think of the club in the right way. This summer obviously is a big one,” Gary Neville added.
“Ole needs to rest himself now but then hopefully the team, the coach, the fans can have a great season next year. That’s what every Manchester United fan hopes for.”
“Manchester United will be here through difficult moments, bad moments, terrible moments, and it will still be a football club that fans love and it will remain in their hearts and they’ll support through thick and thin.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.