Gary Neville has stated that his former club, Manchester United, has become a graveyard for players. This is backed up by United’s poor 2021/22 season in which they amassed a total of 58 points in the Premier League, finishing outside the top four once again.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær was sacked in November 2021 which saw Michael Carrick take over as the caretaker manager for three matches before Ralf Rangnick was brought in as the interim manager. Erik ten Hag has since been announced as the new manager of the club.
It is suggested in the report by The Sun that United chiefs feel that Ten Hag’s arrival could be a ‘catalyst for change’ but Neville, 47, has stated that the club needs to be doing a lot more behind the scenes as there are people at the club that are a constant in the shambles that we have seen.
Neville recently slammed the Glazers for taking £11 million in dividends out of the club suggesting that responsible owners would invest the money into the club – something the Glazers do not do. The former United captain stated that the club is becoming a graveyard for players, saying:
“That’s why Dividends have to stop for a period. Every penny has to go back into the club until it becomes attractive again. The club has become a graveyard for players.
“Culturally for owners to take money out of a poorly performing business is demoralising!”
Christian Eriksen has been labelled a reason for the graveyard comment with the player reportedly deciding whether to pick United or Brentford for the new season. That seems to be how far United have fallen if reports that the Danish international would rather stay in London at Brentford.
United have not yet signed one player, despite be linked to almost 100 new players this summer. Frenkie de Jong is hotly tipped to become a United player this summer, but these deals seem to take so long with haggling like the club is shopping in a souk.
United are also linked to Ajax winger Antony but as the Dutch club has seen many players leave the club already, the price for the Brazilian has shot up as the club do not really need to sell, so United leaving things late could cost them more money.
It seems like all logic has drifted away from the club as the years have passed since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as there seems to be no urgency, forethought or an ability to deal with the transfer of more than one player at a time. We were led to believe that this regime was different, it is not.
Written by John Walker
