'A disgrace to the end!' - Gary Neville slams Man Utd's 'truly awful' Sir Jim Ratcliffe partial takeover announcement on Christmas Eve

United officially announced the deal that had been months in the making on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. While fans welcomed the statement that confirmed that Ratcliffe will take charge of the club's football operations and provide $300m of funding for improvements at Old Trafford, Neville did not hold back on what he viewed as yet another misstep by the club.

"Manchester United 2023 has been a disgrace to the end," posted Neville on X. "The timing of this is truly awful and no functioning organisation would even think about it. Anyway all the very best to Jim Radcliffe (sic) and I hope he can somehow work out a way to get the club right again and back to being something respectable on and off the pitch."

It's certainly not the first time that Neville has torn into the Glazer family over their controversial ownership at Old Trafford. In June he labelled their handling of the sales process they initiated in November 2022 as "embarrassing" and "fitting with how they have operated for 20 years". A life-long Red, Neville echoes United fans in his hopes that Ratcliffe's INEOS group can help reverse years of underachievement as they overhaul the club's creaking performance structure.

Old Trafford will be packed the rafters on Boxing Day as United take on one of the sides that has flown past them with performances on the field this season in Aston Villa.