Neville makes ‘unfair’ admission about Man Utd takeover as Qatar interest doesn’t ‘feel right’
Gary Neville has admitted that it would not “feel right” if Qatari investors “blew all the people away” after replacing the Glazer family as Man Utd owners.
The Premier League giants have been up for sale since last November. The Glazer family confirmed that they would “evaluate all options” and a full sale was on the table.
The current owners have set their asking price at around £6bn. This is considered to be too high, but there still has been significant interest in the club.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe quickly made it clear that he was keen on becoming United’s new owner. He targeted Chelsea last year but he is a lifelong Man Utd fan so his arrival would likely be welcomed by supporters.
Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani has joined Ratcliffe in bidding for Man Utd. It was reported back in February that the Qatari investor would ‘blow rivals away’ and would give Erik ten Hag a ‘huge transfer kitty’.
It was initially hoped that a takeover would be finalised during the early stages of 2023 but it is being reported that the Glazer family are delaying the process until the summer.
Neville has now admitted that he has reservations about Sheikh Jassim becoming the new owner of Man Utd.
“There has to be a cost control on clubs otherwise you would get a disparity and it would take away its competitive edge. That’s where the game needs proper regulation,” Neville said on The Overlap.
“Sustainability measures, real-time financial monitoring. Clubs should be allowed to invest to get up to the level of the top clubs. Newcastle’s owners, Brighton’s owners should be able to invest up to level to compete with Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man city, all the top revenue clubs.
“I wouldn’t feel right if we had an ownership that came in and we started spending a billion or £800m every transfer market signing five best players in the world and we were winning the league every year.
“That’s not right. That’s not protecting the pyramid, that’s destroying English football. so we do need cost controls in place.”
Neville has made it clear that he thinks transfer fees in the Premier League should be shared with clubs in the Football League. He feels that this would not be possible if Man Utd were owned by Qatari investors.
“I don’t see the fault in the money going through the pyramid if Liverpool buy a player, or Man United or Newcastle do, and it filters through the game. I thought it [FFP] was brought to protect clubs going into the wall,” Neville added.
“If the Qataris come in and buy Man United and blow all the people away, it’s not a fair run.”
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