Ben Guest
Gary Neville has said that the next six months will be absolutely critical from Manchester United as they look to permanently replace Jose Mourinho.
This season already looks to be a write off for the Red Devils, who almost halfway through the campaign, have already slid 19 points behind league leaders Liverpool, and 11 points behind the coveted top four spots.
That run, combined with a number of off-field issues have seen Jose Mourinho relieved of his duties, and while he has been temporarily replaced by Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, that appointment is only a temporary one.
The statement that was released on Tuesday announcing Jose’s departure said that the club would conduct ‘a thorough recruitment process for a new full-time manager’, with executive vice chairman Ed Woodward thought to be wanting to totally restructure the club, bringing in a director of football to oversee footballing matters.
One man who has been hyper-critical of the Manchester United hierarchy has been club legend Gary Neville, who has twice gone on impassioned rants about the clubs ‘naive’ board. Following Mourinho’s sacking, he once again banged the drum for change at the top.
“This next six months is a critical period of planning and restructuring,” Neville said on Sky Sports The Debate.
“I can’t for one minute believe that the board and owners are going to continue to operate the club off the pitch in the same way they have in the last few years.
“They need the best in class football leaders in that club, that’s people who have done it with the best clubs in the world, the best clubs in Europe who have operated recruitment departments, who have looked at the technical side of the game, academies to first team – Sir Alex Ferguson did that himself. He linked the whole club as one, and that’s not possible any more. The club’s too big, it’s huge.
“They have got a fantastic commercial and operations side, a model that has been copied all around the world, and they deserve huge credit for that. It’s innovative, it’s a machine. But on the football side, since Sir Alex and David Gill left, there’s been a huge void.
“I think it’s time to put a more modern system in – sporting director, technical director – but the very best in class.”