Paul Parker insists all five managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired haven’t been backed by the owners, the Glazers, but the decision to appoint Harry Maguire as captain hasn’t helped the club either.
Following United’s exit in the earlier this month, the club are now suffering their worst trophy drought in 40 years with their last piece of silverware the in 2017 under .
Since Ferguson retired in 2013, the likes of David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and interim boss Ralf Rangnick have all failed to establish a successive, stable period for the club.
The Glazers have been criticised for not providing funds for the managers and instead focusing on building a business to earn money over a football team to win trophies, and former Red Devil Parker has not held back on his views.
But the players were also in his firing line, claiming they ‘bullied’ Solskjaer and the decision to make Maguire captain was the wrong one.
‘This is the fifth manager since Sir Alex and they’ve never been backed by the people at the top,’ he told the .
‘David Moyes was let down, although I don’t think the club was right for him. Louis van Gaal’s football wasn’t the best but he was let down. Jose Mourinho, maybe the same but he was his own entity.
‘Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did really well except he was bullied by the players, dictated to by players playing average or worse. Signing a player [Maguire] for over-the-top and then making him captain wasn’t the best move.
‘Some of them [the players] have played for at least three managers. Yet the same things are going on. You can see there’s something wrong. It’s not individuals, it’s the collective.’
Parker has made no secret of his belief that under-pressure Maguire should be stripped of the United captaincy too in recent weeks.
A difficult spell for his club shockingly saw him .
In February, Parker called for David de Gea to be given the armband following a number of below par performances from Maguire.
‘I don’t think Harry Maguire should be captain of Manchester United,’ he said.
‘He’s got too much going on in his own game to worry about rather than trying to lead a team which he’d only just joined and in a few seconds gets the captaincy.
‘I think that was more off his price tag rather than the side of him as a person, as a leader of men.
‘And at the moment I think the one who should be captain is the one they all respect is David De Gea. Because to be a captain you have to respect a player.
‘De Gea has to be the most respected player in that United team because he’s the one who’s actually kept them in the position to be fourth in the league at this moment in time.’
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