Gary Neville has laid into Manchester United and insisted he “knows how this ends” after their Carabao Cup elimination.
The Red Devils were on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline Newcastle made light work of Erik ten Hag’s men at Old Trafford, as the Magpies booked their place in the last eight. That was the cue for Neville who has never shyed away from sharing his thoughts on what is going wrong at United. As a result, he launched an astonishing rant online taking aim at his old club’s failings.
Quick to compare Ten Hag’s men to high-flying Newcastle, he wrote at 6:41am: “On my way up to the gantry last night I bumped into Dan Ashworth [Newcastle’s sporting director]. He transformed the FA’s structure, set Brighton up for this incredible period of success and has now built a strong foundation for the new owners at Newcastle’.
“He’s competent, highly qualified and knows what he’s doing. Will work with his coach , recruitment team and other departments coherently and calmly. In the last two matches Manchester United have played two clubs that have installed proper football departments to support the team on the pitch and off it.”
Neville went on, admitting he used to feel sympathetic towards the Newcastle faithful during their time under Mike Ashley’s ownership. Now it is the United support he feels sorry for, as he conceded the atmosphere is slowly draining away from Old Trafford.
“The complete opposite of United. We haven’t got a sporting director! I used to travel up to Newcastle and feel sorry for their great fans when the energy and enthusiasm had been sapped from them under Mike Ashley. It was painful to see”.
“Last night we saw the Theatre of Dreams turn into the Theatre of Nothing”.
“Every single United fan bored and flat . On the pitch the players in shock, the performances woeful and a manager struggling in front of our eyes. We’ve seen it before, we know how it ends and we’ve had enough.”
However, Ten Hag was defiant in the face of defeat on Wednesday night.
The under pressure United boss made clear he is not about to roll over, instead vowing to turn the tide. He told reporters: “So I am a fighter and I know it is not always going to go up and we have a lot of setbacks this season”.
“It is below the standards everyone expect from Manchester United – it is not good enough by far. At this moment we are in a bad place. I take responsibility for it. I see it as a challenge”.
“I am a fighter and I am in that fight and I have to make sure that I share the responsibility with my players and that we stick together and fight together, and get better results.”
Up next for United is a tricky trip to Fulham on Saturday lunchtime. For all of his fighting talk, Ten Hag will be well aware another dismal defeat could deliver him a knockout blow.