When did Neville ever say the squad wasn’t fit for purpose and the only way forward was binning most of them and signing better players?
Neville (and loads of people on here) have been desperate to blame the owners while simultaneously avoiding criticism of the consequences of poor ownership. A squad that’s rotten from top to bottom and needs a radical overhaul. Rangnick was pointing this out while the entirety of the British media (including Neville) had their heads in the sand about it. Neville is STILL trying to avoid blaming the players even now. Hence his row with Redknapp at the weekend.
Gary was hilarious the other day, when he and Carragher tried to rank our post-SAF signings: "Look, the players in this squad have failed under 2,3,4 managers now, so they're obviously not the problem. Let me talk about the Glazers". Here's some fine logic for you!
Truth be told, i don't expect any ex-legends to purposefully lay it into the current players. We are past the point of no return. Even Rio, who's now arguing in favour of Rangnick, is like a weathervane. No one takes him seriously. The sad truth is that the club has invested not just a lot of money (transfers & wages), but also a lot of time in some of these players. The pundits have been singing their praises for years, too. Did anyone argue against United paying Rash/Tony half a million p/w back in 2020? Or did they all buy into the "United DNA" narrative the club was spinning? If they all agreed with Rangnick now, they would have to throw the last three and a half years in the rubbish bin and, most importantly, admit that they are incompetent idiots. Hence, the "we want evolution, not revolution under ETH", punchline that the high echelons were quick to communicate via their mouthpieces. Remember when Gary was asked about the Rashford rumours last season and answered with a bewildered look on his face: "I can't even begin to describe how bad it will reflect on the club, if Rashford left United"? That's where we are at. And that's why Rangnick didn't make a lot of friends in Manchester.
My gut is telling me that ETH, in the sense that every new manager believes he can succeed where his predecessor failed, also agreed with this line of thinking, and now he's backtracking. Which will give them breathing space to lay all the blame on him and buy more time for themselves by signing Pochettino, who, we already know, has the Don's blessing. Another period of uncertainty, new contracts to "protect the assets" and to give the manager time to assess the squad... Business as usual.