Gary Neville has passionately called for Man United boss Ruben Amorim to stop ‘offering himself’ over the club’s failings and told him to ‘wipe out’ negative influences in the dressing room.
The Man United legend took aim at interviews given by Amorim and long-serving defender Luke Shaw in the wake of their Europa League final defeat to Tottenham.
Man United suffered a 1-0 defeat to Spurs in Bilbao on Wednesday night to compound a miserable campaign.
The defeat ended hopes of Champions League qualification, with the Red Devils missing out on European football entirely for just the second time in 35 years.
Ruben Amorim’s side will be responsible for the club’s lowest Premier League finish as they head into the final day 16th in the table, after losing 18 of their 37 matches.
Speaking on The Overlap US, Neville highlighted Amorim’s offer to walk away without compensation if the owners no longer believe he can turn the club around.
Gary Neville called for Ruben Amorim to ‘stop offering himself up’ over Man United’s failings
Amorim claimed he would walk away without compensation if the owners no longer believe he can turn the club around following their Europa League final defeat
Neville called for Amorim to instead focus on the actions needed to turn Man United around
He urged the Portuguese boss to stop ‘offering himself up’ having been in charge for just six months, instead placing the club’s shocking season the result of poor decisions over a longer period.
Amorim has dealt several harsh assessments of his Man United squad in recent months, but Neville stressed he must instead focus on how he plans to turn their fortunes around.
‘Ruben Amorim is so honest to a point of fault, don’t offer yourself up, don’t offer yourself up ever, don’t do that,’ Neville said. ‘Stop doing the honourable thing.
‘The reasons this club is failing is a series of things that are not all down to you. You didn’t sign any of those players.
‘He didn’t want to take this job [until end of season]. He’ll wish he just said no.
‘Now is not the time for him to offer himself up, just tell us how you’re going to get it right.’
Neville also pinpointed an interview by Shaw, who has been at the club since 2014, as an reflection of ‘how bad it is internally’ at the club.
Shaw had claimed players needed to question whether they are ‘good enough for Man United’ following their dismal campaign.
Neville took aim at Luke Shaw’s post-match interview where he claimed players needed to question if they are good enough to play for the club
The Man United legend claimed Amorim needs to ‘wipe out’ any players who are bringing negativity into the dressing room
Shaw’s comments came after Man United’s Europa League final defeat to Tottenham
‘The worst it possibly can, it’s so damaging,’ Shaw said after the final. ‘Obviously not just tonight but we know how big it what for the future, the things that come with winning the Europa League, the Champions League for next season, a lot.
‘It hurts a lot. This season has not been good enough. Us as players, we have to question if we’re good enough for Man United because this season is not acceptable.’
Neville claimed Shaw’s comments showed the negativity in Man United’s dressing room and suggested Amorim will need to ‘wipe it out’ to push the club’s culture forwards.
‘Luke, it’s not your job to determine that, the manager will determine that,’ Neville said.
‘When the players are starting to come out and question publicly whether they are good enough to play for the club that you know how bad it is internally there. Imagine what they are saying inside.
‘If you can feel people having a [negative] influence over others, I think you have to wipe it out.
‘You’ve got to wipe out every single player in that dressing room who doesn’t believe that they have got total and utter confidence to play for that football club.
‘The club is eating them alive, it’s too big for them and someone’s got to get a grip of that club and I think it has to be the manager Ruben you’ve got to get a grip of that club.’
Neville stressed that Amorim needs to ‘get a grip of the club’ with the pressure ‘eating players alive’
Neville added that the Europa League final defeat to Tottenham was the consequence of a decade of bad decisions made by the club on and off their field.
‘This is a result of many, many years of horrific recruitment decisions, horrific decisions in and out of the club, of ownership all the way through to managers, through to scouts, through to people who have been in positions to sign players,’ Neville said.
‘It has all come on top all at once, it is the perfect storm of absolute rubbish.
‘The moment has finally come, maybe the club needs this. That club needs a clip around the ear and this is the clip around the ear it needed and deserves for everything that its done in this last 10 years.
‘It has been coming, a serious of terrible decisions are coming home to roost.’
Neville expressed dismay at the club’s financial position, with the Red Devils missing out on £100m windfall if they had qualified for the Champions League.
The Man United legend also referenced minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s admissions that the club had been ‘running out of cash’.
Ratcliffe had claimed in March that United could have gone bust by Christmas had he not slashed costs.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe had admitted earlier this year that Man United had been ‘running out of money’
Neville claimed Amorim looks set to be backed by Ratcliffe with £100m during the summer
He suggested the possible sales of academy graduates Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho to meet sustainability rules showed the mistakes of ownership over 10 years
Ratcliffe has set about saving money at United by implementing a raft of cuts that include axing up to 450 jobs and scrapping free lunches for staff.
Neville claimed the club are set to back current boss Ruben Amorim with around £100million on new players this summer, but fears the additions will have to be funded by the sale of academy graduates.
Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnancho have previously been linked with exits from Old Trafford, with sales representing pure profit under profit and sustainability calculations.
‘There is something fundamentally wrong when you are ripping the heart out of an academy,’ Neville added.
‘If you sell Garnacho and Mainoo, you’ve got rid of [Scott] McTominay and [Marcus] Rashford. You don’t get rid of your own within 12 to 18 months to suit sustainability rules.
‘We are now become a model of team that are selling young players to fund the mistakes of the ownership over the last 10 years.’