How Gary Neville eviscerated the Big Six on Sky: This greedy lot are guilty of a criminal act against football

Gary Neville spoke out on Sky Sports against the proposed European Super League breakaway which is reportedly supported by Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Manchester City

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.

There won’t be a football fan in this country that won’t be seething at this news. This is disowning your own club stuff. How could a (fan) even think of coming to watch a ‘Super League’ game here when you’ve left your fourteen clubs down, (left) the Championship clubs for dead, the League One and Two clubs for dead, the pyramid system that you fought for 150 years for, gone.

For six clubs.

It’s absolutely embarrassing, it’s never going to happen. Let them break away, but punish them. If they announce a letter of intent has been signed by the six clubs, they should be punished heavily. Massive fines, points deduction, take the titles off them, who cares? 

Give Fulham or Burnley the title, relegate Liverpool, United, and Arsenal because those three clubs are the history of this country, they should be the ones that should suffer the most. Chelsea, Man City, new money in the game, I’m not happy with them either.

Man United, Liverpool, and Arsenal should know better, the history and tradition that runs through those clubs is absolutely enormous. I value it, but they leave a lot to be desired at this moment in time. You go on the streets of Liverpool – and they don’t like me – but I always thought they were about honesty, they had integrity, they would look after their people. Well, that’s gone. If they (Liverpool) sign that letter of intent they are as bad as the rest of them.

I am a Man United fan for 40 years and I’m disgusted. You talk about big clubs - Man Utd have acted like a small club for the last eight to ten years. 

Arsenal the same. Some clubs who are missing out here actually act like bigger clubs than those two. 

Manchester United, born out of workers around here, and they are breaking away into a league without competition. One that they can’t be relegated from. Honestly, we have to wrestle back the power in this country from the clubs at the top of this league – and that includes my club. 

As part of another group, I’ve been calling for 12 months for an independent regulator to bring checks and balances in place to stop this happening.

The time has come now for that independent regulator to stop these clubs having the power base. Enough is enough.

It’s pure greed, they are imposters, this has nothing to do with football in this country, the owners of United, Liverpool, City, Chelsea, (and Arsenal). There’s over one hundred years of history in this country from fans who have lived and loved these clubs and they need protecting.

I benefited from football hugely. I’ve invested money into a club, I am not against money in football, but the principles and ethos of fair competition (are sacrosanct) so that when Leicester win the League, they go into the Champions League.

Man Utd and Arsenal aren’t even in the Champions League – you watched them (Arsenal) earlier (Sunday), they are an absolute shambles of a football club at the moment. And they want a God-given right to be in there?

Deduct them all points tomorrow, put them at the bottom of the league, and take the money off them. Seriously you have got to stamp on this. it is criminal... It is a criminal act against football fans in this country. Make no mistake about it, this is the biggest sport in the world, this is the biggest sport in this country, and it is a criminal act against the fans, it's as simple as that.

The(se clubs) are bottle merchants, you never hear from the owners of these clubs. Absolute bottle merchants, they have got no voice. They will probably come out in a few weeks and say it had nothing to do with them and that they were only talking about it.

Seriously in the midst of a pandemic, an economic crisis, football clubs at National League level going bust nearly, furloughing players, clubs on the edge in League 1 and League 2, and this lot are having Zoom calls about breaking away and basically creating more greed.

It’s a joke.