“He’s a club legend, he’s my teammate, I actually like him a lot”
Gary Neville has refused to ‘call out’ former teammate and Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer despite a run of poor results.
United have won just two of their last seven games and suffered a disappointing 4-2 defeat against Leicester at the weekend.
A number of United fans have taken to social media in recent weeks to express their desire to see Solskjaer sacked.
However, Neville states that despite club legend Solskjaer being under “massive pressure”, he will never call for a manager to be sacked by their club.
“He should be under massive pressure with the squad that’s been assembled and the fact he’s been in the job two-and-a-half, nearly three years,” said the former United defender on Monday Night Football.
“But the club are not going to change him and the club are going to stick with him until the end of the season.
“I’ve got Manchester United fans on my social media timeline all the time saying, ‘Gary, he’s your mate, you won’t call him out’. No I won’t, no I won’t and I won’t call Steve Kean out or Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
“I’m not going to come on this show 11 years later and ask for a manager to be sacked, it’s never gonna happen.
“He’s a club legend, he’s my teammate, I actually like him a lot and Manchester United have failed with two previous managers who have been world class.”
🗣 "I've got Man United fans on my timeline all the time saying "he's your mate you won't call him out" no I won't."@GNev2 defends the criticism he has received from fans for not calling for Man United to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer pic.twitter.com/V1hS2f2jhA
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 18, 2021
The 46-year-old did admit that, whilst the Red Devils are competing against ‘three of the best teams in the world’, the squad that United possess means that the Norwegian has to get them to perform.
Having claimed that United were short Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Harry Kane to seriously challenge for the title [they bought two of the three and brought in Cristiano Ronaldo], Neville said a cup win and a top four finish would prove Solskjaer was ‘building a successful team’.
“I disagree with Jamie [Carragher] that if he does win the Europa League and FA Cup, and they finish in the top four, I would say that’s still building a successful team.
“You’re up against three of the best teams in the world in Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool, with three of the best managers, so Manchester United changing their manager doesn’t prove anything to me in terms of what could happen, I still think they could struggle against those three teams.
“But the pressure is building, it should do – [Edinson] Cavani, [Mason] Greenwood, [Marcus] Rashford, [Anthony] Martial, [Donny] van de Beek, [Paul] Pogba, [Bruno] Fernandes, what a collection of players.
“They’ve got to now start to perform and he’s [Solskjaer] got to get them to perform.”
United’s next fixture sees them host current Group F leaders Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Related links:
- Gary Neville slams Newcastle’s handling of Steve Bruce
- Gary Neville baffled by Solskjaer selecting “nowhere near it” Harry Maguire
- Gary Neville describes Man Utd as “shoddy, scrappy and scruffy”
