Gary Neville has launched a scathing attack on Liverpool and Manchester United over claims the clubs have signed up for a European Super League aimed at rivalling the Champions League.
A report by The Times on Sunday afternoon claimed that the Reds were one of 11 sides from around Europe who have signed up for the breakaway competition.
United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have also apparently signed up, with reports also suggesting Manchester City are now involved too.
The news have been widely condemned by the Premier League, FA, UEFA and the British government, with all four releasing statements within hours of the news breaking.
The new-look competition would see clubs playing 10 group games instead of six before the usual knockout tournament from the round of 16.
The ECHO contacted Liverpool for a comment with the club keeping their counsel on the matter, but Neville didn’t hold back when asked for his thoughts on the move.
The former Manchester United defender didn’t take just take aim at the owners of those clubs reportedly involved in the breakaway, but claimed the Premier League should deduct points from them.
“The reaction to it is that it’s been damned and rightly so. I’m a Manchester United fan and have been for 40 years of my life but I’m disgusted, absolutely disgusted,” he told Sky Sports.
“I’m disgusted with Manchester United and Liverpool the most. Liverpool say they’re the people’s club, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, the fans' club.
“Manchester United, 100 years, born around workers around here, and they’re breaking into a league without competition, that they can’t be relegated from.
“It's an absolute disgrace and we have to wrestle back the power in this country from the clubs at the top of this league and that includes my club.
“I’ve been talking for 12 months as part of another group for an independent regulator to bring checks and balances into place to stop this happening.
“It’s pure greed, they’re imposters, the owners of this club, the owners of Liverpool, the owners of Manchester City, the owners of Chelsea, they have nothing to do with football in this country.
“There are 100-odd years of football in this country with fans that have lived and loved these clubs and they need protecting, the fans need protecting.
“I benefited from football hugely, I’ve made money out of football, I invested money into a football club and now I’m not against money in football, but the principles and ethos of fair competition and the rights to play the game, so Leicester win the league, they go into the Champions League.
“Manchester United aren’t even in the Champions League, neither are Arsenal - you watched them earlier today, they're an absolute shambles of a football club at the moment, Tottenham aren’t in the Champions League at the moment, and they want a God-given right to be in there?
“They’re an absolute joke and the time has come now, independent regulator, stop these clubs having the power base - enough is enough.
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“The motivation is greed. My reaction earlier on wasn’t an emotional reaction, deduct them all points tomorrow, put them at the bottom of the league and take the money off them, seriously you have to stamp on this.
“It’s criminal, it’s a criminal act against football fans in this country, make no mistake about it, this is the biggest sport in the world, the biggest sport in this country and it’s a criminal act against the fans, simple as that.
“Deduct points, deduct the money and punish them. They’re bottle merchants, you never hear from the owners of these clubs. Absolute bottle merchants, they’ve got no voice.
“They’ll probably hide for a few weeks and then say it was nothing to do with them, they were only talking about it.
“Seriously, in the midst of a pandemic, an economic crisis, football clubs at National League level are going bust nearly, furloughing players, and these lots are having Zoom calls about breaking away and basically creating more greed. Joke.”
