Whoever is near Manchester United these days: members of the club, former players or journalists will tell the same thing – that dressing room is toxic. The Red Devils have some real devils in that room, and those devils are leaking inside stories to the press. A couple of TV pundits, usually former United players have already spoken about current crop of players, admitting that they will probably get more managers sacked. The current mood in the club after another disappointing defeat is not good, to say at least, and every day, another story from inside the dressing room comes out in various media. But former United player and Sky Sport TV pundit Gary Neville, knows who and why is doing that. “I didn’t find it funny at all. I thought it was disrespectful. I thought it was disgusting in fact.” Gary Neville assesses the current state at Manchester United and shares his views on the leaked reports of disharmony between the players and the coaching staff 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/6IY4DdcI09— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 14, 2022 Speaking out on his Sky Sports podcast on Monday, Neville recalled one of his first assignments, when he covered Napoli – Chelsea in the Champions League. The coach at the time was Andre Villas-Boas, who left influential players like Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, and Ashley Cole on the bench. Neville witnessed how suddenly team news were published out of nowhere and manager was slagged off. And he is sure the same thing is happening in Manchester now. “Players agents and PR teams were briefing the media on a matchday about what was going on inside a club, and it was the first time I had seen it and known for it to happen – it really unnerved me. That is happening at Manchester United now – they are at it, the PR teams, the agents and the marketing teams, as a self-preservation for their own player. But what they do not realise is that unfortunately, when they go to the media then those media people go to us – so we know who is briefing. The reality is that we do not like it, but we know who it is” explained Neville.(1.75) MANCHESTER UNITED (3.60) BRIGHTON (4.90)Last week, it was claimed that some United players refer to Rangnick’s assistant Chris Armas, as Ted Lasso. Lasso’s character is a hapless American coach who takes over a Premier League club (an Apple+ TV series). “I thought that was downright disrespectful – I did not find it funny at all that they were describing Ralf Rangnick’s No 2 as Ted Lasso and not only was it disrespectful, but I found it disgusting. It sums up what I think of them: that they are disrespectful. I think if I was Ralf Rangnick and his No 2, I would gain strength from that because I would not want to be on the same page of some of those players who are leaking those types of stories. We are not going to throw people under a bus here because we have that journalistic respect – but they are it in the same way that Chelsea were all those years ago” said Neville without hesitation. Scholes holds nothing back: Players don’t want to do their best; Rangnick is a sports director, not a coachFormer Manchester defender also pointed out at the reports that players prefer Mauricio Pochettino over Ajax boss Erik ten Hag for the manager’s position at United next season. “I don’t like reports saying “players want this manager” – stay out of that. Get your own job right. If Pochettino is the choice of the board, appoint him. But they shouldn’t appoint him because of what the players think. I hate to think for one second they are listnening to the players in the dressing room. They have big PR machines – agents, PR machines, social media teams are active and they have been for a good few months. At this moment in time they are all looking after one another. All that c***, that nonsense is happening behind the scenes at United” Neville said.
