Football
Kevin Palmer 10y

Neville calls for clarity over Moyes

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has called on the club to clarify the future of manager David Moyes, after admitting to Sky Sports he fears the Scot will be sacked in the coming days.

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Club sources confirmed to ESPN FC on Monday that Moyes is on the verge of losing his job as United manager, before the end of his first season in charge of the club that handed him a six-year contract last summer.

Even though Neville described some of United’s displays under Moyes this season as "shocking and unacceptable," the club’s former full-back who won 17 major trophies in his decorated career at Old Trafford has stated his belief that the beleaguered Scot should be allowed to continue in the job.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Neville claimed the speculation at the club is not painting United is a good light and urged Old Trafford officials to end the uncertainty one way or the other.

“Manchester United as a football club, usually, they don’t comment on anything, but they are going to have to clarify this position quickly,” Neville said.

“For the last 20 years, that club has contained information, has managed information. For me, the stories on Monday [surrounding Moyes' future] were like nothing else I’ve seen at the club in the last 20-odd years.

“Personally, I would always think managers should be given a period of time, a couple of years, to be able to bed their own team in, but it concerns me with the weight of explosion of these rumours.

“I have to say I find it repulsive the way these rumours break. I don’t like it, I’ll never get used to it, even though this is the world we live in. I think it needs to be clarified pretty quickly by the club and they need to break rank and do what they don’t usually do, which is make a statement pretty quickly.

“Having supported the club for 15 to 20 years, played for the club for 18 years, the managers have always been given time. Dave Sexton, Ron Atkinson, Alex Ferguson himself got time in his early years when it was difficult for him.

“People will say it is different times, but I genuinely believe that when you give a man a six-year contract that he deserves the opportunity and the time.

“We used to laugh at Italy 20 years ago [sacking managers regularly] and laugh at it. Now we have become accustomed to it. You hear people in the game come out and say a manager should be sacked, but you will never hear that from me because it is a difficult job and something I’ve never done.

“Football management is a world of madness, an absolute world of madness. The average manager gets sacked every 12 months and I’ve always felt that Manchester United should be different, hold itself up as a club that is standing against what happens in the game.”

Even though Neville opted to remain loyal to Moyes, he was withering in his assessment of the team’s performances this season, including their latest 2-0 defeat at Everton on Sunday.

“The performance at Everton was shocking and some of the performance this season have been shocking, I have to say,” added Neville, whose younger brother Phil is a member of Moyes’ coaching staff. “Well below the acceptable levels, totally unacceptable. It’s not doing David Moyes any favours.

“The performance at Everton was a really poor performance, make no mistake about that. The idea that they had possession is a waste of time. I called it meaningless during the match and I don’t change my stance on that. Manchester United have cutting edge brutality it attacks.

“They go and win games and destroy teams with that level of possession. The idea that they can just faff around in the middle of the pitch looking pretty, that’s a waste of time for me.

“We had a go at Arsenal for doing the same thing when they went to Goodison Park and did similar things. Not good enough.”

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