Gary Neville on United

[Inigo Montoya]

Herrera is a strange one to gauge. I could never quite figure out how good/bad he was for us. Fair play to him on his big contract at PSG though, he is certainly punching above his weight on that wage.

It’s his last big contract. If they’re mad enough to give it to him,I’m not going to complain;it’s not our money

 

[Mainoldo]

People seem to be putting this 'natural cycles' comment up there with 'Flat earth' theories.
Let's be honest, no club has ever challenged for the league consistently for longer than we did over a 25 year period. Did any of you realistically think that we would just challenge for the league forever more?
It's an obvious point to make, city and Liverpool won't be top two for the next 25 years either!

So what about Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern. There’s cycles and then there’s stupidity.. like I’m not excepting Forrest to win a champions league before I die.

 

[Jimmy_Bond]

I bet he also knew what was going on at the club when Moyes was in charge.

Remind me how much money was squandered on mercenary signings under Moyes?

Y'all must of forgot.

What he says to McKenna corresponds to what he says in this rant.

I know the social media fans find it very hard to comprehend a world that isn't black and white, but this window, whilst been a midfielder short of being exactly what we wanted, has been a step in the right direction.

What Neville said about Herrera was spot on. If the academy can't produce players of a Herrera quality, we should close it tomorrow. As far as I can see, we've improved the defence tenfold and removed clutter that has stopped Martial and Rashford reaching the potential we were certain they'd reach pre Mourinho. In Martial we have a potentially world class striker.

The midfield is how it was but with less depth. I hope McTominay and Gomes can develop into top players, starting this season, and that we can get a tune out of the £50m midfielder we signed last summer.

If I were owner, and we the manager was asking me for money for a midfielder, I'd be asking what happened to the £50m one we bought last year. Can't be writing off such some of money time and time again. He was as highly rated as Ndombele this time last year, so part of Solksjear's job is correctly managing such players so that they provide value.

 

[Ekeke]

Neville is such a clown. Basically he's saying he thinks its fine if we're shit for another 10 years because at some point we'll be good again

 

[Lookatu]

So what about Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern. There’s cycles and then there’s stupidity.. like I’m not excepting Forrest to win a champions league before I die.

You forgot Celtic and Rangers if you wanna go that way. United don't play in Scotland or Spain though. They play in a country were they are they most successful team over the longest period of time.

 

[crossy1686]

Agreed with pretty much all of that to be fair

 

[MrSingh2002]

my point exactly and I felt Dybala/Erickson came from their clubs trying to shift players for reasons of FFP (Juve) and contract situation (Spurs) rather than any plan of Sokskjaer

the only midfielder in Europe identified seemed to be Longstaff - I'd love to see Ole's list

You'd have to think that had we actually appointed a Technical Director, even on an interim basis, we might have identified a single suitable midfielder

I agree. If Longstaff really was the main target for midfield then we should've paid the 50m and got him.

If the worldwide scouting and management team have identified him as the key to improve Manchester United on the pitch then why let money stop the deal happening?

Bottom line is the Glazers and Woodward will do what they want and they're not all that interested in winning or challenging for the league aslong as they make their money.

 

[Tincanalley]

First off, well done Adam McKola. Good questions and balanced and sensible follow up. Gary Neville is likeable, and makes good points. He lets his views on Woodward be known. He is careful as hell not to piss off the owners. Hence his cyclical argument. "Eventually, we will stumble upon the right recruitment system. Manchester United will win again". "It's not as bad as you think..."

Manchester United, Gary says needs to get the culture right again. "That comes sometimes from the boardroom, but sometimes it come from the team..." So he is hoping things comes right. He is utterly pessimistic about anything happening as regards our terrible owners, so he has to hope they stumble to a lucky place in his cycle of success. Daft, but Gary wants to keep his options open. With this revolving door cycle of managers, who knows when his turn will come.

 

[Random Task]

Can't help but agree with everything Neville said there.

This summer's transfer window was not nearly as bad as people are making out. We got rid of 2 below-par players in Lukaku and Fellani, and another one who has failed to impress more often than not. We didn't lose those players, we kicked them out of the club. There is a world of difference.

We brought in 2 exciting young prospects in AWB and James, both of whom impressed in pre-season, plus we signed one the leagues best CB's. With excellent ball players in Lindelof and Maguire at the centre of our defence, flanked by Shaw and AWB with DDG in behind them, we have the foundations for a proper title-winning team. Maybe not this year, admittedly, but within the next 2-3 years, we'll be back at the top challenging.

 

[100]

Agree with a lot of what Gary is saying. People want to have their cake and eat it. Want to make every signing around but dont want lazy mercenaries at the club. Youre better to hold off on some signings and wait for the right one.

 

[Random Task]

First off, well done Adam McKola. Good questions and balanced and sensible follow up. Gary Neville is likeable, and makes good points. He lets his views on Woodward be known. He is careful as hell not to piss off the owners. Hence his cyclical argument. "Eventually, we will stumble upon the right recruitment system. Manchester United will win again". "It's not as bad as you think..."

Manchester United, Gary says needs to get the culture right again. "That comes sometimes from the boardroom, but sometimes it come from the team..." So he is hoping things comes right. He is utterly pessimistic about anything happening as regards our terrible owners, so he has to hope they stumble to a lucky place in his cycle of success. Daft, but Gary wants to keep his options open. With this revolving door cycle of managers, who knows when his turn will come.

That's the underlying point that many seem unable to grasp. The situation is nearly as bad as people think. We will start winning again.

 

[Justin Bieber]

Neville's mate is in charge and he's a nationalist, so he's always going to defend the farcical transfer window we had, then when it goes wrong it'll be Pogba, Martial and Lindelof's fault.

What? Who is Nevilles nationalist mate who is in charge? This seems like an insane post to make so please educate me.

Or has project fear taken over redcafe?

 

[fergosaurus]

Got to admit I’m not angry with his view as it is my view. He just disappoints me with his constant contradiction and lying to the fans...

This being a prime example telling us we need the best in class etc etc. When I see Edu, Pavel Nedved and Marc Overmars doing good jobs for their clubs. Overzealous bull.

I see your point but I think Juve and Ajax are set up in a way that allows them to gamble on not bringing a top bracket Technical Director. They have the support around them and solid foundations which they wouldn't benefit from under the United. Arsenal are a different thing all together but the dury is still out on them. I'm sure there are many examples of when bringing in an inexperienced DoF has worked but I'd be much more content with proven quality than a Rio Ferdiand or Darren Fletcher.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Agree with a lot of what Gary is saying. People want to have their cake and eat it. Want to make every signing around but dont want lazy mercenaries at the club. Youre better to hold off on some signings and wait for the right one.

So it was either buy no-one or a lazy mercenary midfielder?
Nothing in between?

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Overrated or not he was our second best midfielder and arguably our most consistent and we will miss him, regardless of his standing amongst other midfielders in the game.

You clearly didn’t see his last few games for us. Totally outclassed by every midfielder we came up against. Injury or no injury he was mediocre.
Saying he was our second best midfielder is not exactly high praise

 

[buckooo1978]

A distortion? You only had to be monitoring the transfer thread all summer to see how unrealistic some fans were. Hardly a myth.

The place has become a refuge for the desperate and deluded

you are always going to get transfer muppets, fantacists and FIFA fans - that's got nothing to do with the fact that we barely identified any valid targets outside the UK, haven't addressed major issues in midfield and we are likely to be relying on a 17 year old delivering which is unfair. Fergie would never have put that kind of pressure on a 17 year old even with the ability and potential Greenwood has. Look at Michael Owen and Rooney - done at 28

 

[mancan92]

Neville is the same guy that would have kept Moyes on till now if he was in charge so I can't take anything he says seriously

 

[Inigo Montoya]

you are always going to get transfer muppets, fantacists and FIFA fans - that's got nothing to do with the fact that we barely identified any valid targets outside the UK, haven't addressed major issues in midfield and we are likely to be relying on a 17 year old delivering which is unfair. Fergie would never have put that kind of pressure on a 17 year old even with the ability and potential Greenwood has. Look at Michael Owen and Rooney - done at 28

Are we going to be fielding Greenwood in every game then? Don’t think so

 

[buckooo1978]

Are we going to be fielding Greenwood in every game then? Don’t think so

I think it might happen - option on the right are him, Lingard, Mata and James

I think and hope he starts there tomorrow- I can see him starting plenty of games (25-30) between the competitions we are in and he and James will rotate though James might be needed on left

We're actively looking to get rid of Sanchez on loan. Lingard is average. It's going to happen. I think he's our 3rd best attacker based on what I've seen

 

[Woodzy]

I agree with some of his points, but lets not forget we were 'rotten to the core' at the end of last season.

He clearly can't make up his mind on how he feels about the club and how it's run, likely because he wears his heart on his sleeve probably a bit too much.

 

[edgar allan]

I can't stand Neville anymore.

Why?

 

[edgar allan]

Agree with a lot of what Gary is saying. People want to have their cake and eat it. Want to make every signing around but dont want lazy mercenaries at the club. Youre better to hold off on some signings and wait for the right one.

We had 3 months to plan to bring in one holding defensive midfielder to give the team a chance this year.
Didn't have to be a 100 million mercenary, just someone that wants to play for the club.
The madness will be obvious fairly quickly and with a couple of injuries it might well be shown up as rank stupidity.

 

[Random Task]

you are always going to get transfer muppets, fantacists and FIFA fans - that's got nothing to do with the fact that we barely identified any valid targets outside the UK, haven't addressed major issues in midfield and we are likely to be relying on a 17 year old delivering which is unfair. Fergie would never have put that kind of pressure on a 17 year old even with the ability and potential Greenwood has. Look at Michael Owen and Rooney - done at 28

We haven't had much luck with overseas signings these last 5-6 years, so I think Ole and Woody were reluctant to look for targets outside of the PL. It's understandable when you consider the amount of money we have wasted on foreign talent - £800 million or thereabouts.

We just wanted to play it safe this time around. Depending on how Ole and the squad progress over the season, I think Ole will be backed in a big way next summer.

 

[Lemansky]

Neville's mate is in charge and he's a nationalist, so he's always going to defend the farcical transfer window we had, then when it goes wrong it'll be Pogba, Martial and Lindelof's fault.

Haha! This is the single most stupid post I have ever seen on this forums. It’s so far off of that you should be ashamed of yourself.

You know Ole is Norwegian right? He is gonna buy players regardless of nationality. And why would Neville blame the Swede and not the Norwegian?

Ole is a socialist btw, he supports the Labour Party in Norway and is far, far from a nationalist. His teams in Norway has had people from all over the world with a local/Norwegian core.

 

[Random Task]

@buckooo1978

If Eriksen had shown any interest in joining United, I think Ed would have snapped him up. Which would have made 4 PL proven players. Dan James aside of course.

 

[pacifictheme]

This is the sort of stupid 'fan' comment I only expect from opposing fans. Its really sad how pathetic some United supporters are. Turning on Ole etc.
You have to give RAWK members however deluded they were years ago but they rarely turned or insulted their own.

WTF have you done in football or for United to make such conclusions? Keyboard warrior twat.

Ironic post is ironic. Unintentionally i'd imagine.

 

[Joga Bonito]

You clearly didn’t see his last few games for us. Totally outclassed by every midfielder we came up against. Injury or no injury he was mediocre.

That just about applies to nearly the entire squad if you actually stop and think about your statement.

Saying he was our second best midfielder is not exactly high praise

No it is not, but it is a sad reflection and the reality of our squad right now. No one is moaning about a player with the quality of Herrera leaving, if we'd replaced him with Ndombele, Ndidi or Rabiot, you can bet no one would bat their eyes at Herrera's departure.

Herrera's quality isn't in question here, it is our midfield's quality and depth which is and whether a player like Herrera would strengthen it significantly as it stands right now and if we'd miss his presence. Whether you rate him or not, I'd say you'd have to be pretty blinkered to say no to either of those questions.

 

[buckooo1978]

We haven't had much luck with overseas signings these last 5-6 years, so I think Ole and Woody were reluctant to look for targets outside of the PL. It's understandable when you consider the amount of money we have wasted on foreign talent - £800 million or thereabouts.

We just wanted to play it safe this time around. Depending on how Ole and the squad progress over the season, I think Ole will be backed in a big way next summer.

if only we had a Technical Director to manage scouting and acquisitions eh. It's almost a year to the day since this was announced.

A player like Rodri would have been superb but with proper strategic scouting you aren't relying on buying established world class players like Ericksen or recommendations from Giggs/Phelan. Let's hope Wd gets his finger out of his arse and the latest erc for a Technical Diector is concluded before Christmas

 

[Devil may care]

What? Who is Nevilles nationalist mate who is in charge? This seems like an insane post to make so please educate me.

Or has project fear taken over redcafe?

Haha! This is the single most stupid post I have ever seen on this forums. It’s so far off of that you should be ashamed of yourself.

You know Ole is Norwegian right? He is gonna buy players regardless of nationality. And why would Neville blame the Swede and not the Norwegian?

Ole is a socialist btw, he supports the Labour Party in Norway and is far, far from a nationalist. His teams in Norway has had people from all over the world with a local/Norwegian core.

The first part of this response doesn't apply to you Beebs as you just asked a question, however the second post may be the stupidest I have read or I'll just put it down to lack of reading comprehension. I was saying Neville is a nationalist, thus of course he approves of this buying British nonsense and will blame the two French lads and not Rashford and Lingard when our attack continues to suck, just like he used to tear De Gea up when he was first here but always ignored the mistakes of England's #1 Joe Hart, hope that clears it up for you

 

[Gehrman]

Neville was also the one saying that we should have given Moyes more time. It's not completely wrong what he says, but I just think he's trying to optimistic. With Fergie for 20 years in a row, we never finished lower than 3rd. Post fergie we've only finished in top 4 twce in 6 seasons and we're going into our 7th season with a unproven manager and a deficient squad. Yes United didnt win anything for ages before Fergie, but since then we turned into one the greatest juggernauts of football. We want to be the Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich of Britain. We don't want to be like Liverpool who hasn't won the league in 30 years after their glory years.

Both Fergie, Giggs and Neville would be laughing their asses of in 2013 with the suggestion we wouldn't be challinging for the highest honors post fergie. Standards are slipping

 

[2mufc0]

Neville is so annoying. Watch him change his tune in 6 months. He's typical top red w*nker

 

[Justin Bieber]

The first part of this response doesn't apply to you Beebs as you just asked a question, however the second post may be the stupidest I have read or I'll just put it down to lack of reading comprehension. I was saying Neville is a nationalist, thus of course he approves of this buying British nonsense and will blame the two French lads and not Rashford and Lingard when our attack continues to suck, just like he used to tear De Gea up when he was first here but always ignored the mistakes of England's #1 Joe Hart, hope that clears it up for you

I get what you were saying in your post now my bad.

I am curious as to why you think Neville is a nationalist though? Is it because he wants young British talent to play for British clubs complimented by the top players from Europe? That just seems like a sensible strategy.

Or have i missed some political statement he has made?

 

[tenpoless]

I wish people would actually see things from the bigger picture. GNev always changes his tunes. You can spot it easily. No He's not a "Top Red" who says only what's in his mind for the better of the club. It's what's in his mind in order to <<insert personal agenda here>>. Most of the pundits do that, it's very boring, it makes all the passion artificial. I wish football would stay away from politics and ex-players agendas, at least I hope that We don't have to see those on a daily basis especially in Manchester United.

Therefore, for them who called me a twat because I think He's a nobody well thank you very much. Maybe you aren't used to people having a different opinion than you especially when it's against the nice words you hear from someone else. But at least I don't buy into someone's words just because He's an ex-player who says things I want to hear when I know He keeps contradicting himself and does not have enough credibility about the thing He's talking about. It's just a bunch of nice paragraphs that has no impact to the reality, I don't care who says it. A lot of posters here are capable of writing what Neville said, almost everyone can write nice wall of texts for political purposes.

Like it or not the club has to evolve and not by throwing tradition and hiring another Mourinho. The management is at fault, it has to start from there - it's not natural for us to be in this mess, no need to sugarcoat it. This transfer window, you cannot defend it and not because I'm a spoiled child who wants Ronaldos and Mbappes. This is our transfer window :

• Chasing after Maguire when it was widely reported that Woodward and the board was totally against the signing the year before. We didn't sign him for cheap either. We were delaying it for no reason
• We let Herrera go on a free. You can say "He's no better than other midfielders WE have". Oh really genius? how many games We have to play this season? less number = less quality overall. How many midfielders in a prime age that We have? Hint: Matic need more rest than the other due to his age. A midfield rotation will be a pain in the arse this season. Hell, even last season We struggled with it
• We let go of Lukaku in the last minute without any replacement. You can say "We have Greenwood, trust the youth" Well that's nice and all but again it's about the number. Once every 15 years or so, sure, there's a young player who gets into the starting eleven straight away and keeps his spot, even performing better than his seniors. But such players are rare and We should protect the young players and not expecting them to carry a massive weight. Give them time and opportunity to grow with us, not placing burden upon them

We are capable of doing things that are illogical and that's down to the management. The decision makers.

 

[gica_7]

Agree with Neville on pretty much everything. Teams do move in cycles as we have seen in sports La Lakers in 200s in Basketball / Ferrari in F1 etc.

Neville makes sense but a lot of what he says is confirmation bias. Teams move in cycles but when giants like United, Ferrari or Lakers suffer too long, something has to change. Even Ferrari and lakers are trying to shake things up for the last couple of years but United’s management has been the same. Arsenal was a giant once. Yet, their cycle never seemed close to change and their management style was very very similar to ours.

Herrera, Fellaini and Lukaku are by no means irreplaceable, but we didn’t replace them at all. Even Ole said we needed replacements should players leave. Just because you are in the wrong side of the cycle, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

None of us expecting to challenge Liverpool or City. We all know it tooks years to built those squads. But to get their level, you have to invest more than United did. We are in danger of falling behind Leicester or Wolves ffs. Forget reaching their level, we might have fallen behind our level of last year. If Neville believes United didn’t invest simply because they could not find no player was passionate to play for us other than Maguire, awb and james this summer I am sorry he is more delusional than most of our fans.

Playing for the title is expensive. keeping money in the account and paying dividends is what Glazers choosing. As long as United keeps being profitable, our cycle will not change.

 

[Devil may care]

I get what you were saying in your post now my bad.

I am curious as to why you think Neville is a nationalist though? Is it because he wants young British talent to play for British clubs complimented by the top players from Europe? That just seems like a sensible strategy.

Or have i missed some political statement he has made?

I think the fact he never critcizes the English underperformers tells you what he is, Rashford and Lingard stunk the place out for the last 15 games last season and he never said a word about them, just like with the De Gea/Hart situation, but he's quick to be on Pogba or Martial. City are the best side in the league, they have 1 regular English starter I believe, maybe 2 if Walker starts but they have just bought Cancelo so he's probably going to be benched, point is the game has moved on, you get nothing more from buying average British players than you do from top foreign players, they all get paid way too much and live in a bubble, the difference between what you get from them on the pitch is the coaching, not their place of birth.

 

[Morpheus 7]

Neville came across as a dismissive prick. Mc Kola was excellent and asked good questions, I'm not a huge fan of ftd's at all but that was great. I felt he asked questions that many fans raised this Summer. Neville answered in a smug way, felt Neville talked down to him at times. I know ex players have such an insight in to the game but there is still a place for fans.

 

[Justin Bieber]

I think the fact he never critcizes the English underperformers tells you what he is, Rashford and Lingard stunk the place out for the last 15 games last season and he never said a word about them, just like with the De Gea/Hart situation, but he's quick to be on Pogba or Martial. City are the best side in the league, they have 1 regular English starter I believe, maybe 2 if Walker starts but they have just bought Cancelo so he's probably going to be benched, point is the game has moved on, you get nothing more from buying average British players than you do from top foreign players, they all get paid way too much and live in a bubble, the difference between what you get from them on the pitch is the coaching, not their place of birth.

Oh so he isn't a nationalist, he just criticised players you like and didn't criticise players you don't like. Got it.

 

[Stacks]

Remind me how much money was squandered on mercenary signings under Moyes?

What he says to McKenna corresponds to what he says in this rant.

I know the social media fans find it very hard to comprehend a world that isn't black and white, but this window, whilst been a midfielder short of being exactly what we wanted, has been a step in the right direction.

What Neville said about Herrera was spot on. If the academy can't produce players of a Herrera quality, we should close it tomorrow. As far as I can see, we've improved the defence tenfold and removed clutter that has stopped Martial and Rashford reaching the potential we were certain they'd reach pre Mourinho. In Martial we have a potentially world class striker.

The midfield is how it was but with less depth. I hope McTominay and Gomes can develop into top players, starting this season, and that we can get a tune out of the £50m midfielder we signed last summer.

If I were owner, and we the manager was asking me for money for a midfielder, I'd be asking what happened to the £50m one we bought last year. Can't be writing off such some of money time and time again. He was as highly rated as Ndombele this time last year, so part of Solksjear's job is correctly managing such players so that they provide value.

I dont know what a social media fan is. Many of we forum members are season ticket holders.
I agree with some of what Neville said especially the Herrera part. Your are correct in that our 1st team is better than it was last season but I would suggest our squad is weaker and we still lack the attacking options or players to lighten the creative burden on Pogba. I have anxiety about games where we cannot break down the opposition and resort to aimless passing. What's our front 3? Who is supposed to supply them? We'll just have to wait and see

 

[Dante]

I get what you were saying in your post now my bad.

I am curious as to why you think Neville is a nationalist though? Is it because he wants young British talent to play for British clubs complimented by the top players from Europe? That just seems like a sensible strategy.

Or have i missed some political statement he has made?

Neville criticises English players all the time.

But there's a small subset of Caftards who can't let go of his criticism of De Gea 7 or 8 years ago, and so twist everything since to fit their own narrative.

 

[Devil may care]

Oh so he isn't a nationalist, he just criticised players you like and didn't criticise players you don't like. Got it.

Nope, you don't, anyone with eyes could see they all deserved criticism, I have said myself I have ran out of patience with Martial and I'd have sold Pogba, the point is Neville ONLY highlights the forgeign players and not the English ones because he's a nationalist.