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Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo during the UEFA Europa League group E match against Omonia Nicosia at Old Trafford, Manchester, October 2022.

‘It’s out of order’ – 9 Man Utd stars who’ve slammed the Glazers’ antics

Ben Stewart •

With the takeover rumours currently swirling around Manchester United, the Glazer family could soon be stepping away from Old Trafford.

Plenty of former players and managers have had their say on the Glazers over the years since their takeover of the club in May 2005.

From Gary Neville to Jose Mourinho, here are some of the best quotes from Man Utd stars about the Glazers’ ownership.

Cristiano Ronaldo

“The progress was zero,” he told Piers Morgan during an explosive interview in November 2022. “Since Sir Alex left, I saw no evolution in the club. Nothing had changed.

“I think the fans should know the truth. I want the best for the club. This is why I come to Manchester United.

“But you have some things inside that don’t help (us) reach the top level as City, Liverpool and even now Arsenal. A club with this dimension should be top of the tree in my opinion and they are not, unfortunately.

“Nothing changed since I left. The pool, the jacuzzi, even the gym, even some technology. Even the chefs who I appreciate, lovely people

“I thought I would see new technology, infrastructure. I saw things I saw when I was 20!

“I love Manchester United, I love the fans, they’re always on my side. But if they want to do it different, they have to change many, many things.”

 

Rio Ferdinand

“Where the hell are they?! Get here! Get over here!” Ferdinand cried on his YouTube channel following Man Utd’s 4-0 loss against Brentford in August 2022.

“This ain’t like no normal business, this is a football club with heritage with history, with character, with personality, real people involved. So, treat it like that.

“They don’t communicate with the fans, they’re not communicating with the people, no one knows where they are, no one can put a face to it! I think that’s disrespectful and I think it’s out of order.

“I think they need to come here and put themselves right at the front and start shouldering some of this blame. Because they are allowing other people to take the blame and they are intrinsic in what goes on at this football club — good or bad.”

Ralf Rangnick

“I spoke to the board and said shouldn’t we at least speak and try and analyse if we could get a player either on loan or as a permanent deal but in the end the answer was no,” the former United manager explained in May 2022 via the Guardian.

“I still believe that we should have at least tried, if we would’ve found and been able in 48 hours, 48 hours is short notice, but it’s still 48 hours, it might have been worth it to try and internally discuss but we didn’t and it was not done.”

Paul Scholes

“I’m not sure there ever will be a connection with these owners,” Scholes told BT Sport in April 2022.

“As long as there are billionaires owners from another country, I don’t think there will be a connection and we have to stop pining for that. The most important thing for the fans is what happens on the pitch.

“Look at the club, the resources they’ve had and they haven’t won a trophy for four years. It’s ridiculous. I don’t think Ed (Woodward) is a football man – we’ve had five or six years of choosing the wrong managers, the wrong type of players for this football club and it is all down to the ownership.

“It comes down to billionaire owners who are greedy and just use this club as a toy to make money.”

Roy Keane

“I think United fans have just had enough,” Keane told Sky Sports in May 2021.

“They’re doing it [protesting] because they love the club and it’s not what has happened over the last few weeks with the Super League, I think it’s been building for a number of years now, that frustration, and they’ve come to the end and thought ‘enough is enough’.

“It’s been building up over the last few years – disappointment in communication, stuff going on in the backroom, tickets, whatever it might be. The leadership of the club has not been good enough, when they look at the owners and feel it’s just about making money.”

Former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane

READ: 12 times Roy Keane has ripped into a Manchester United player in 2021

Patrice Evra

“The club needs to stop being so arrogant. There are certain people at the club right now that don’t even respect Sir Alex Ferguson,” he explained via American Red Devils in September 2020.

“Before us, Bobby Charlton, George Best, they make the history of the club and we try to respect it — the Treble season of ’99 and us in ’08. But some people want to blow this legacy away. For what? Business? I think some people who work for this club are damaging this club. That’s why we have to tell the truth to the fans.’

“The only problem I would say to Ed is trusting people he should never trust.

“He even trusts people outside the club that he shouldn’t. When we want a player and they cost say £20m, we end up trying to buy him for £100m. Now those players don’t even want our money anymore.”

Jose Mourinho

“In the last seven years the worst position of Manchester City in the Premier League was fourth. In the last seven years, Manchester City was champions twice and if you want, say three times. They were second twice. That’s heritage,” He explained in March 2018 via MUTV.

“Do you know what is also heritage? [Nicolas] Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, [David] Silva, [Raheem] Sterling, [Sergio] Aguero. They are investments from the past, not from the last two years.

“One day when I leave, the next Manchester United manager will find [Romelu] Lukaku, [Nemanja] Matic and [David] De Gea from many years ago. They will find players with a different mentality, quality, background, with a different status, know-how.

“The reality is that some clubs were ready to win. Other clubs are not ready to win. One thing is to go for the jugular and another is to build a different process.”

Wayne Rooney

“Ronaldo left in 2009, Tevez left and after that you could see it was going to go backwards before it can move forwards,” Rooney explained via the Mirror in February 2022.

“That’s what I could see and that’s why I was asking the questions. Unfortunately, they probably still haven’t recovered from that to this day.

“It wasn’t a great team in 2013. For us to win that League title was a miracle, really, I think.”

Gary Neville

“I think they [United fans] will be frustrated – but I think they will also recognise that Jim Ratcliffe was very respectful towards the family,” Neville explained via the Daily Mail in October 2022.

“I think if you’re going to be disrespectful to the family, they’re not going to do business with you in the future.

“What he did felt like to me like, ‘Look, the owners don’t want to sell, but they were very decent with me’ and if that changes in the future, then maybe he’ll be there. I can’t see how this is sustainable, how they can’t bring in investment, or a partner or sell.

“I just can’t see it. They haven’t got the money to be able to do what Manchester United need. United cannot continue to have a stadium like they have, when the rest of the stadiums in Europe and in the Premier League are improving on the scale that they are.”

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