Gary Neville said the owners of Manchester United “erode every little last bit of energy out of everything that they do”, as the takeover process continues.
The former Manchester United player turned sports pundit, who has a new show on Sky which sees his podcast series The Overlap go on tour, was speaking as the potential sale of the club has been going on for several months, with prospective buyers submitting multiple bids.
Qatari Sheikh Jassim and his Nine Two Foundation and Sir Jim Ratcliffe and chemicals company Ineos hope to take over United from the Glazer family.
Asked about the sale process, Neville said: “Honestly, I think everyone has got the point whereby what the Glazers do, they erode every little last bit of energy out of everything that they do.”
He said “everyone’s bored now” and claimed the owners “just don’t care” and have an aversion to listening to criticism.
Neville added: “The fans have had enough, they want them out and I think to be fair – it’s sad, really, that it’s come to that but that’s exactly how I think everybody feels.”
The former captain of the club, 48, said Sir Jim or Sheikh Jassim are “going to put it in billions of pounds” and “probably just can’t care less than the Glazer family”.
Neville also said: “They know nothing about Manchester or the north west of England and the tradition of football in this part. They have not embedded themselves in the local culture.”
In contrast, he said Wrexham’s Hollywood actor owners, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia creator Rob McElhenney, have put “effort” into their club’s success.
Neville added: “They turn up there. They’ve done it well at Wrexham and they’ve got obviously a long way to go to get to probably where they want to be, Championship (or) Premier League, and probably that might take three years, eight years, 12 years, who knows.”
He also said the Glazer family are “good business people” who are “smart” as United is now worth a lot more.
The Glazers are reported to value the club at £6 billion.
Elsewhere, Neville also spoke about their “little challenges” in The Overlap On Tour, which have included hurling and jumping out of a plane.
Neville said: (At) every point, I didn’t really (want to) jump out of the plane. I just knew I had to do it.”
He has been travelling with former Republic of Ireland captain turned coach Roy Keane and former Liverpool player turned pundit Jamie Carragher as part of the new series.
Carragher said his “stomach” did not feel “right” afterwards and it was like a “rollercoaster”.
He added: “When we landed on the floor, the guys who were there with us, kept asking us ‘Did you love it?’ And we had to say ‘Yeah, it was great’ and I was like, ‘I’m not sure I’d do it again’.”
Neville also spoke about calling breaks “mini retirements”, comments which went viral this week after an interview with Steven Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO podcast last year.
He said: “When they start to look at mini retirements, people will know what I mean, switch off.
“People don’t switch off, they have these phones on all the time. They literally are constantly relentlessly active in their lives. It’s incessant. Have a little mini-retirement.
“You don’t think of anything that’s to do with work other than relaxation so it’s not a holiday, you haven’t got a job so you switch your mind off.”
The Overlap On Tour is on Sky Max at 9pm on June 14.