Gary Neville has slammed all but two players, labelling their end to the season an ‘absolute disgrace’, and has criticised Jesse Lingard for expecting an Old Trafford farewell.
The Red Devils suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat against Brighton on Saturday in their penultimate Premier League match of the season and they cannot finish any higher than sixth place – though could still be pipped to football by .
Neville feels the only players who have come out of the season with any credit are David de Gea and and believes a massive changing of the guard is needed, while he mocked Lingard’s unhappy reaction to not being given a send-off last week.
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, he said: ‘The more I think about it, Ronaldo stays. I think the worse it gets the more he stays to not look like he’s running away.
‘Ten Hag has got a massive job to do. A lot of them will leave, just naturally their contracts are up, it’s the other ones that ultimately… well you can’t just kick players out of the club.
‘The nonsense this week over Jesse Lingard. Jesse’s been at the club a long time, he’s done a good job for the club, but I saw Bryan Robson and Steve Bruce not play in their last games for the club and not get a send-off in Cup finals.
‘One of them is probably the greatest captain Manchester United have ever had, and the other is one of the greatest captains Manchester United have ever had – and they didn’t get the send-offs they wanted, the farewell from the fans. I’m not quite sure why Jesse Lingard deserves it.
‘I was basically thrown away at West Brom in a toilet! At the end of the day, sometimes it just doesn’t work out Jesse! This idea that they feel they’ve got a God-given right to get some minutes on the pitch, the way they’ve played, all of them.
‘De Gea and Ronaldo I think have held their own this season, they’ve performed well, but not one of them other than that can have any complaints about whatever happens to them this summer. They really can’t. It’s been a really shocking two or three months, I can’t wait for the season to be over, I can’t wait to stop talking about them.
‘You can’t watch them. If I can’t watch Man United there’s something wrong and I can’t watch them at this moment in time because I don’t feel it represents anything a football club should be – let alone Man United. It is what it is, big clear out in the summer.’
He continued: ‘With every minute they play football for that club they’re just damaging themselves to a point whereby fans won’t forget. Fans last night were singing, “You’re not fit to wear the shirt.” I’ve never, ever, ever, heard Man United fans resort to that chant.
‘That’s the sort of chant you heard at QPR a few years ago, or Sunderland a couple of times where they were walking out if you remember. I’ve never in my time known the fanbase to turn on a team like this one, but it’s now really clear that they’ve thrown the towel in.
‘It’s been a disgrace for a couple of months. I mean, they’re still not that many points off fourth place and I said a couple of months ago on this podcast that I felt Manchester United, if they got their act together [they could get fourth]. What’s their record now? They’ve won three in 13? That’s an absolute disgrace. It’s absolutely embarrassing, the players in that dressing room and the cost of that dressing room.’
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