Gary Neville has told Mauricio Pochettino to protect himself before taking the Manchester United job — starting with two new defenders in January and total control of recruitment.
The former United captain, speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football programme, warned the incoming head coach not to walk into Old Trafford without guarantees from the club’s hierarchy. Pochettino has reached a full agreement in principle to succeed Michael Carrick on a two-and-a-half-year deal, but Neville believes the Argentine must set his terms now, while United need him most.
“If I was Mauricio Pochettino right now, I would literally protect myself as much as possible,” Neville said. “He needs two defenders in January. He has to insist on getting two defenders in January. He has to insist on having a budget next summer, and he has to insist on having a budget after that. They have to give it to him, otherwise he should not take the job.”
Gary Neville: Pochettino must ‘clean house’ at Old Trafford
Gary Neville’s warning goes beyond January signings. He told Sky Sports that Pochettino must completely rebuild the squad and make sure he controls who comes in and who goes out — or risk repeating the cycle that has swallowed every United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
“I think the mistake Mauricio could make is that he comes in and gets an initial bounce, maybe even a six-month bounce [and keeps the players],” Neville said. “He’s got to identify that very quickly at United, and I’m sure he will. He’s more experienced now than he was at Tottenham, but he has a big job to do in terms of players exiting.”
United have been poor at moving players on for a decade, Neville argued, and the new manager cannot afford to be sentimental about a squad sitting in the relegation zone with eight points from 10 games. He recalled visiting Pochettino at Tottenham in his early days there, when the Argentine was already clear about which players he wanted to build around and which he needed to move on.
“He needs to make sure he takes the club into his own hands, into his own destiny, make sure he controls his own outcomes,” Neville added. “I think he needs two defenders straight away to get Manchester United anywhere near where they want to be this season.”
‘Disgusting’ — Neville on Carrick’s treatment
Gary Neville was just as blunt about how United handled Carrick’s exit. The club confirmed on Thursday that the former captain had been sacked, less than six months after being appointed head coach on a permanent basis — while he was still taking training and club executives were in Monaco pursuing his replacement.
“It’s just quite simply disgusting,” Neville said. “That falls well below the standard of what you would expect in any other business, in any other industry. It would be constructive dismissal and you’d be getting sued.”
He admitted he had feared this ending from the start. “I’m sad that it’s come to this,” he said. “I wish he hadn’t got the job at the end of the season. I think at that time, I pretty much said that I felt this could happen.”
For all the anger, Gary Neville has long wanted Pochettino at Old Trafford — and he still believes the appointment can work, provided the Argentine arrives with his demands already in writing. Pochettino will stay with the United States for their two Nations League quarter-final legs against Haiti before taking over, with his first match in charge expected to be the trip to Liverpool on 22 November. Fellow United great Peter Schmeichel delivered a similar verdict on the club’s handling of Carrick earlier this week. For Friday’s other big games, check today’s predictions.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0, University of Salford Press Office) — collage by SportsBuddy
