Jordan: Neville called on a lynch mob nothing justifies that behaviour

Gary Neville ‘called on a lynch mob… nothing justifies that behaviour’, insists Simon Jordan as he blasts Man United legend for trying to defend pitch-invading fan protests against Glazers and accuses him of ‘hypocrisy’ due to his Salford City role

  • Manchester United’s clash with Liverpool on Sunday was postponed due to fans
  • United fans angry at the club’s American owners, the Glazer family, stormed Old Trafford and got on the pitch before clashing with police
  • Gary Neville and other TV pundits were sympathetic towards the reasoning of it
  • Simon Jordan has slammed Neville for his comments and criticised him for doing so while owning 10 per cent of League Two outfit Salford City 

Simon Jordan has laid into Gary Neville and fellow leading TV pundits for trying to justify Manchester United supporter protests that saw their match against Liverpool postponed on Sunday, brandishing their comments as ‘irresponsible’.

Jordan also accused Neville of hypocrisy on his stance considering his part-ownership of Salford City and how that League Two club is run.

United’s highly-anticipated Premier League clash with bitter foes Liverpool was called off as fans of the former made their feelings known towards the club’s hierarchy.


Gary Neville (left) has been slammed by Simon Jordan for his comments regarding Manchester United supporter protests that led to their clash against Liverpool on Sunday being postponed

Jordan says Neville ‘called on a lynch mob’ and ‘nothing justifies that behaviour’ by the fans

Thousands of United supporters held a demonstration against their owners on Sunday

Some fans broke into the ground and caused the match with Liverpool to be postponed

United supporters are trying to drive Joel Glazer (right) and Avram Glazer (left) out of the club

Fans want the Glazers out after their involvement in the botched European Super League plans

Some supporters broke into the stadium and invaded the Old Trafford pitch in protest at club owners the Glazer family, while outside the ground bottles and barriers were thrown at police officers and horses.

The mass protest at the Theatre of Dreams saw over 1,000 protesters outside Old Trafford – with many managing to breach security and storm the pitch itself.

The fallout of the incidents has brought mixed coverage with pundits such as Neville, fellow United legend Roy Keane and Liverpool great Jamie Carragher sympathising with the fan base during their punditry on Sky Sports on Sunday.

However, their sentiments have not been reciprocated by Jordan who has blasted them for their roles in inciting the fans too, claiming Neville called on a ‘lynch mob’. 

‘There is a building narrative, and I think some of this was brought on by certain people egging on this outlook, whether it’s the media or certain pundits who have a lot to say for themselves in a very irresponsible fashion,’ the former Crystal Palace chairman said on Monday’s White and Jordan show.

Neville has backed Manchester United fans after their dramatic protest at Old Trafford

‘I don’t care what people like Gary Neville come out with, calling on a lynch mob and start talking about how there is an entitlement for fans to do this. No way is there an entitlement to attack police officers, no way is there an entitlement to break into a football pitch, climb onto goals, break into hospitality and smash up environments purely and simply because you think you’ve got a cause.

‘The cause you’ve got is because you don’t like the people who run your football club, you don’t like the way they purchase the football and you don’t like the fact they tried something that they didn’t get away with… but nothing justifies that kind of behaviour.

‘There’s an element of justifying what happened. We’ve had pundits saying this has been brought about by 16 years of frustration, that this is an opportunity to mobilise – these are the parts that are very damaging.’

Aside from his punditry duties, Neville owns 10 per cent of Salford City – with 40 per cent of the club funded by billionaire Peter Lim.

As well as his punditry work with Sky, Neville is a co-owner of League Two outfit Salford City

And Jordan didn’t hold back on his views about the 46-year-old’s hypocrisy of preaching about United fans unhappiness about the club losing money as he claimed the same thing is happening with Salford too.

‘The hypocrisy of his ownership of Salford when he got a billionaire owner in there who is funding Salford who are, to my mind, losing money left right and centre, who probably breached financial fair play, and all of this is being utilised by Gary Neville to advise a soap box wrapped in hypocrisy,’ he continued.

‘Yes, these owners and the ownership models in football right now are flawed, but why are they flawed? Why has it got to his point? Because of the greed across the board in football and the hypocrisy embodied by people like Gary Neville.’




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