Gary Neville has claimed that he knows who is involved in the leaks coming out of Manchester United, after recent 'secrets' from the dressing room became public knowledge.
Advert
It is not a happy camp at United at the moment, after Ralf Rangnick's side have thrown away 1-0 leads in their past three matches, ending up without a win on each occasion.
The results have seen them knocked out of the FA Cup and suffered blows in their race to finish fourth in the Premier League, which has only been softened by poor results from Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham.
Whilst things aren't going great on the pitch, off the pitch there have been reports that players don't like Ragnick's training methods, having taken over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in December, with assistant coach Chris Armas reportedly being given the nickname 'Ted Lasso.'
Neville has hit out at those reports, calling them 'disrespectful,' and has claimed the players' PR teams are the ones leaking the information, but stopped short of naming the players.
Advert
"I thought that was downright disrespectful on Friday – I did not find it funny at all," the United legend said on the Gary Neville podcast.
"That they were describing Ralf Rangnick’s number two as Ted Lasso was not funny at all and not only was it disrespectful, but I found it disgusting.
"It sums up what I think of them: that they are disrespectful.
"I think if I was Ralf Rangnick and his number two, I would gain strength from that because I would not want to be on the same page of some of those players who are leaking those types of stories.
"...I remember when I joined Sky and we had the Champions League in the early years, and I went over to Napoli to do a game involving Chelsea.
Advert
"It was when Andre Villas-Boas was their manager and he left out Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Ashley Cole – four or five prominent players.
"That is what managers tend to do in their final days at a club, as they see it as a free hit.
"I remember sitting there at lunchtime with our team and they were getting messages of team news being leaked and the manager being slagged off, and I sat there thinking ‘does this actually happen’?
"Players agents and PR teams were briefing the media on a matchday about what was going on inside a club, and it was the first time I had seen it and known for it to happen – it really unnerved me.
"That is happening at Manchester United now – they are at it, the PR teams, the agents and the marketing teams, as a self-preservation for their own player.
Advert
"But what they do not realise is that unfortunately, when they go to the media then those media people go to us – so we know who is briefing.
"The reality is that we do not like it, but we know who it is.
"We are not going to throw people under a bus here because we have that journalistic respect – but they are it in the same way that Chelsea were all those years ago."
Following their latest dropped points, the 1-1 draw with Southampton on Saturday, Neville had a scathing review of his former team.
Advert
The Sky Sports pundit said that his former team had 'broken every rule' in trying to chase a winner, explaining how they'd done everything wrong.
It wasn't just the players on the end of criticism though, with Paul Merson saying that the club needed to sack Rangnick, just months into his interim spell.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Manchester United, Premier League, Gary Neville, Ralf Rangnick