Gary Neville slams 'oppressive' Daniel Levy for trying to 'play Football Manager' at Tottenham as divisive chairman told now is 'right time' to sell the club

Thousands of Spurs fans protested against Levy's reign at the club ahead of their Premier League meeting with Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. The fans chanted 'Levy out' at the stadium before James Maddison's winner in the 13th minute of the match. After the game, celebrated pundit and former Red Devils star Gary Neville spoke about the English businessman's "oppressive" reign at Spurs and urged him to sell the club as soon as possible.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville said: "The rumour mill around is that Tottenham are looking potentially for people to buy this club. It'll be a big price, but it would probably be the right time in some ways. I think what he's done here in terms of the stadium, getting the training ground right. The problem is, he's not been able to detach the football side from himself so that ultimately, he just runs the business side.

"He's obviously very good at that. He runs a pretty tight ship. That's what you want at a football club - it's easy at a football club to get people who say yes, who get emotional about spending money. He's got to look after Tottenham and their long-term future, but he's also got to bring in experts in the football department and he always seems to interfere and that and be oppressive in the way he deals in that side of it. That's the big problem because a football club is a football club and it's all about first-team performance."

The pundit added: "The stadium is great, the training ground is great, that's what he can do, he can do, he can bring commercial revenue, make sure the NFL and Beyonce are here, there's loads of money coming into the club, he's protected the long-term future of the club i terms of revenue and things like that which are really important.

"But, he can't let go. It's a little bit like United when David Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson left, the guys who were running the commercial side, who were doing a great job, came into the football side, and think they can play Football Manager. And they can't, it's a completely different skill set."

Earlier this week, The Guardian reported that a Qatari consortium is interested in buying Tottenham. The investors want Levy to continue managing the club as chairman and a new contract will be on the table should the deal go through. Ange Postecoglou's side will be back in action next Saturday in the Premier League as they take on Ipswich Town.