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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Jacob Leeks

Gary Neville's Erik ten Hag "worries" have already proved true after Man Utd humiliation

Gary Neville's "worries" over the future of Manchester United have already been proven right after they were humiliated at Brentford.

The Bees secured a dominant win over the Red Devils on Saturday evening, smashing them 4-0 at the Brentford Community Stadium. It was the latest low point in what has been a dreadful two years for United, who have had three managers in that time.

Erik ten Hag was the man who led them at Brentford in their second Premier League game of the new season. He took over in June, but even before his appointment, Neville had been raising concerns about the situation at Old Trafford.

Back in April, United were thrashed by Liverpool at Anfield, also by a 4-0 scoreline. Ten Hag was yet to be officially confirmed as United's new boss by that point but Neville admitted he was fearful for the Dutchman.

"My view at this moment of time, there’s a lot of things the players could have done better, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could have done better, Ralf Rangnick maybe could have done better," Neville told Sky Sports at the time.

"But fundamentally the club is broken on and off the pitch. The stadium is falling apart, the training ground is falling back to second rate compared to other training grounds. The owners are taking £25m out the club.

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Erik ten Hag oversaw a humiliating defeat to Brentford on Saturday (REUTERS)

"The club needs investment and sets the culture from the top. One thing I’ll guarantee you is that Manchester United will come back and they’ll be successful, because the world is round.

"They’re too big and a great club. I’ve got no worries about the long-term, it might be five years, 10 years, 15 years. Just like I never had any doubts that Liverpool would come back one day. I feel sorry for him [Ten Hag]."

Following the latest disastrous result in United's last dreadful two years, Neville again took aim at club chiefs. He slammed them for not listening to former interim boss Ralf Rangnick and insisted that the thrashing at Brentford is a hammer blow to their hopes of doing good business in the transfer market.

“We are continually saying the same things about the same people. However, I can’t believe that Ralf Rangnick said they were going to need open-heart surgery. He was the guy that was going to come in and direct this club moving forward beyond his coaching role.

“They have obviously not listened to him, or have got a complete inability to bring players into the club - and that’s the problem now. Manchester United over the last ten years have always answered the fans’ anger through money and spending it in the transfer market.

"The problem is now, nobody wants to take the money - and that is the issue. Nobody wants to take the money. They can’t spend the money and that is a big problem. At this moment in time it is really, really desperate. There is no leadership, there is no voice."

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