Gary Neville has called for an end to American investments in English football following Todd Boehly’s comments. He slammed the new Chelsea owner after the latter made some controversial comments on how to improve the game just a few months into his ownership of Premier League side Chelsea.
Following Todd Boehly’s comment, a furious Gary Neville has slammed American investment in English football as being a ‘danger’ to the fabric of the game. Neville hit out at suggestions on how to improve the game from Chelsea owner Todd Boehly.
The legendary Manchester United player’s comments were obviously a response to Boehly’s interview at New York Conference on Tuesday, on September 13.
Taking to his Twitter handle, Neville speaks of the need for English football to adopt a football regulator to protect the game in Britain from US investments.
“I keep saying it but the quicker we get the regulator in the better,” he wrote. “US investment into English football is a clear and present danger to the pyramid and fabric of the game.
“They just don’t get it and think differently. They also don’t stop till they get what they want!”
Boehly, who took over the ownership of Chelsea this summer alongside investment firm Clearlake Capital, stir controversy on Tuesday when he suggested an all-star game in the Premier League, just like in the National Basketball Association in the United States.
Speaking in New York at the SALT Conference, Boehly said: “I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports and really starts to figure out, ‘Why wouldn’t we do a tournament with the bottom four teams? Why isn’t there an All-Star game?’
“You could do a North vs South All-Star game in the Premier League and fund whatever the pyramid needed very easily. Everyone likes the idea of more revenue for the League.”
On relegation, the Chelsea co-owner suggested: ‘Those relegation games are some of the highest broadcast games.
“Ultimately, I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson out of the American sports teams and really starts to think about why don’t we do a tournament with the bottom four teams.”
Before his controversial SALT Conference, Chelsea had sparked reactions from various quarters when he reportedly suggested a 4-3-3 formation for sacked former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuche and bumped into the transfer market without foreknowledge of how it works.
Gary Neville was among the front-line pundits that criticized the American investor for his naive and uninformed approach to the transfer market, joking and referring to him as ‘Todd Woodward.’
‘Your man Todd Woodward needs to stop wandering round like a kid in a sweet shop,’ Neville wrote on his Twitter Handle.
A Chelsea fan had attempted to defend Todd Boehly when Neville suddenly replied ”It’s just scattergun and unsustainable. I doubt this approach will go well.’
After Chelsea had sacked Thomas Tuchel, Nevill called Todd Boehly ‘Todd Woodward.’
Gary Neville has been a staunch critic of American ownership of British clubs since the failure of the Glazers Family; under whose watch Manchester United has slumped down depths of failure.
Based on his actions and in actions in the last 105 days, Todd Boehly has been dramatic as the controlling owner of Chelsea. It will be interesting to see how his antics will impact on the Premier League club in the long run.
