Gary Neville has again pointed to the root of Manchester United's problems: it is not about the latest manager, but about the absence of a single line from the owners down to the pitch.
After the 4:4 draw with Aston Villa, the club found itself in the Premier League relegation zone, having picked up just one win all season. Michael Carrick, who took charge of the team on an interim basis, no longer looks like a saviour — six months ago he led United to third place, but now the pressure on him is growing.
Neville, commenting on the situation for NBC, stressed that a change of manager only creates an illusion of progress for a time. "When a new manager arrives, everyone is happy for a couple of months, and then six months later it all repeats itself," noted the former captain. In the 12 years since Alex Ferguson's departure, the club has already changed eight head coaches, and none of them has been able to build a sustainable system.
The list of names speaks for itself: Ruben Amorim, Erik ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal, David Moyes, Ralf Rangnick. Among them are stars of world football, promising young specialists, and former players of the club. However, according to Neville, they all ran into the same wall: weak recruitment, fragmented departments and a lack of strong leadership throughout the entire hierarchy.
The problem is deeper than simply the quality of the coach. Even specialists who had been successful in the past could not implement their ideas, because decisions at the level of the owners and the sporting leadership were not aligned. "Any organisation will collapse if there is no unity from the board of directors and the owners down to the person on the pitch," Neville concluded.
The fans' discontent spilled over into banners at Old Trafford: "We don't want a new stadium, we want new owners." The Glazer family retains control, while Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS are responsible for the football side, but no unified strategy is yet in sight.
Imagine a company where every new director tries to fix the failures of the previous one, yet the board of directors continues to approve budgets and contracts under the old rules. The result is always the same: money is spent, but the system stays as it was.
Neville's criticism brings attention back to United's main question after Ferguson: will the club finally be able to build a coherent structure, or will the cycle of "hope — disappointment" continue further.
