It represents the end of an era which has changed English football for ever. But Gary Neville does not believe Roman Abramovich’s impending exit at Chelsea is necessarily a cause for celebration as the Sky Sports pundit and Salford City co-owner addressed the myriad challenges facing English football.
Abramovich announced his intention to sell in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has caused pressure to be applied on the UK Government to sanction him for alleged ties to Vladimir Putin.
It has led to questions about the game’s uneasy relationship with overseas investors, but Neville says that is an oversimplification. Pointing out that more damage has been done by domestic rogue owners – he cited Bury as an example – he said the Premier League shouldn’t shut itself off to the likes of Abramovich.
“In respect of Abramovich and Chelsea, he has been an owner of Chelsea now for 20 years and I have spoken openly about how I have welcomed the challenge to the historical elite, which was Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal,” he said. “I do believe we are a stronger league for it, more competitive and admired all around the world. We should accept investors but it comes with some level of standard of decency.
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“I accept [investors] come here to legitimise their positions in their countries. Abu Dhabi in east Manchester, Saudi in Newcastle, Roman Abramovich at Chelsea. I have always viewed that we would create a better world in return by accepting them into our country.
“That does not seem a very wise view this week when Russia go and invade Ukraine, but it has always been my view that we as the UK should act as what would be good standing. I would like to think we could adopt a policy whereby we could affect change in the world but that has not worked this week and what we have seen is quite barbaric that has happened in Ukraine.”
In an interview at the Financial Times’ Business of Football summit, Neville also emphasised the need for a revamped owners and directors test as he predicted the European Super League would return “rehashed”.
He said: “It will make a comeback. I don’t believe the hierarchy and elite in football that exists are going to go away. They want more money, they want to create more wealth for themselves and they don’t have a great interest in the wider game beyond their own clubs.
“Tracey Crouch, the Conservative MP, has done a fantastic fan-led review that was part of the Tory manifesto at the last election, it is a great report and it now needs to move through legislation in parliament and if it does then I will finally believe the ESL is dead.”
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