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Man Utd need ‘three or four years’ to complete turnaround under Ruben Amorim, claims Gary Neville

Neville places the blame for United’s current situation with the Glazer family, who took over ownership of the club in 2005

Chris Wilson
Friday 14 February 2025 10:52 GMT
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Gary Neville claims that it could take several years for Manchester United to see stability and success again, while stressing that Ineos “have to be given time” to deliver results.

United sit 13th in the Premier League and recent results have not markedly improved under new manager Ruben Amorim, while Ineos and new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe have come under criticism for making cuts and redundancies across the club.

But Neville has been quick to blame the Glazer family for the club’s current predicament, while adding that Ineos and Amorim may need several years before “United will win again”.

Speaking to The Times, Neville said that United’s project needs to be allowed “three or four years” to achieve stability, adding that the “succession planning was horrific” after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

“At United those failings 100 per cent fall upon the owners, the Glazer family. To run a football club for a decade without a football department, a sporting department of any note. It was madness,” said Neville.

“Ineos have now come in. My preference would have been for a complete takeover and for the Glazer family to leave, but at least there’s been disruption. At least they’re making decisions,” he added.

Neville – who is part of the task force working with Ineos around the construction of a new 100,000 seater stadium – says that he thinks the new ownership group have “found it bloody hard” to begin with.

“Until you’re in there, you can’t understand the scale of United and the enormity of everything. Ruben Amorim, I bet he can’t believe what he’s seeing on the pitch.”

Nevertheless, the 49-year-old said that he does think the situation will change at United, adding that he believes the club “should have a world-class 100,000-seater stadium” and “the best training ground”.

“And I’m steadfast in thinking United will win again, and they’ll win big,” said Neville.

“Because you can’t keep them down for ever, even if I’ve not seen the green shoots of recovery at all yet,” he added.

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