Google News Garry Neville on the Qatari's arrival at Manchester United
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Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the arrival of the Qatari owners to Manchester United. A bid for full control of the club has been submitted by Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani. United fans, at least most of them, don't seem to be happy with that.
United legend Garry Neville believes fans need not worry and has revealed a potential solution; ‘There is some concern,’ Neville said on his podcast, as quoted by metro.co.uk ‘[But] they want a debt-free club.
They’ve become harmed mentally by debt, Man Utd fans, over these last few years. There’s a feeling they want an ownership that can compete with the Middle East estates we have in this league, which is Saudi Arabia at Newcastle and Abu Dhabi at Man City.
From my point of view, there’s a white paper coming out later this week from the government. I know that might seem like really boring stuff around legislation through parliament of Tracey Crouch’s report and the independent regulator but I honestly believe at this moment in time, the EFL are powerless, the FA are powerless.
The Premier League is stuck in a lot of their governance because they’ve got 20 different owners with 20 different mindsets and vested interests and self- interests and we do need, most importantly, whether it be for Man Utd, Man City or the whole league, we need to know what is expected of owners in this country.'
Garry Neville and his solution
Neville believes that the entry of foreign money into the club is a big problem. Newcastle United is the latest example. Although such teams do become great, it seems to kill the charm of football, where only money plays a role.
Neville believes that the salary cap would be a great solution, as well as the financial fair play that is already in force, but the question is whether it applies to everyone. ‘We need new sustainability rules, we need clear direction for what is the criteria for an owner to come into this country because no one knows the criteria.
We definitely need a new distribution for the EFL and for the rest of English football, we need 100 per cent real-time financial monitoring, we need to look at the owner funding model and see what can be done with that so we have sustainability and we don’t have wages being increased by nation states that have got trillions of pounds – but still keeps a competitive field in the Premier League.
Keep a cap and control on the clubs like Man Utd, Man City and Newcastle, who may have nation-state involvement, but allow other clubs to come up to their level of spending if they’ve got a wealthy owner that wants to come in, ie: Jack Walker at Blackburn all those years ago.'