“Gary has been pretty hard on us”
Joel Glazer has said he accepts that everyone is entitled to their own opinion following the recent criticism of his family’s ownership of Manchester United from Gary Neville.
Neville, who was United captain during the early years of the Glazers’ time as United’s owners, has made his feelings about them abundantly clear since it emerged they were behind the doomed proposals for a European Super League.
The Super League fiasco prompted protests at several of the clubs who backed the plans, none more vociferous than at Old Trafford, where United fans forced the postponement of the Premier League game against Liverpool.
"We spent plenty of money. We just sucked. We made bad decisions. But the Glazers definitely spent money."
The Glazers are hated by Man Utd supporters, but how are they perceived by the fans of their other team, Tampa Bay Buccaneers? | @Smnllyd5 https://t.co/EF0BbAgIj4
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 25, 2021
Those protests eventually led to Glazer promising to meet with supporters for the first time ever. He appeared virtually at fans’ forum earlier this month. Comments from the meeting have now been released in the media.
After opening statements from several of the supporters, Glazer began:
“As I prepared for today, I realised the first thing that I needed to do was start with an apology. As I reflect on the fact that this is the first time I’m here with you all – that isn’t right.
“I can’t change what’s happened in the past. I can only work to change the future. And just Topic Speaker Topic Notes as I said as I prepared and thought about today, I realised that just is not right.”
Asked about Neville’s criticism, Glazer said: “Gary has been pretty hard on us. It’s OK. Everybody has their views.
“You can just shut the person out because they are not saying something nice about you. Or you can pause and listen.
“You can’t ignore people. Gary’s a legend. He has good ideas, good thoughts. And they’re heard.”
Glazer vowed that he and his family were committed to improving the club after listening to supporters expressing their concern on a wide range of issues including the underinvestment in playing staff and the stadium.
