"Disrespectful" Man United Players Blasted By Club Legend Gary Neville Over Media Leaks

Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has expressed his disapproval and anger at members of the club's current squad for leaking locker room secrets.

There have been multiple newspaper tales sourced from club insiders recently.

One such report last week claimed that Mauricio Pochettino was the clear favorite among United's players to be their next manager.

Another story revealed a derogatory nickname for the assistant of current interim boss Ralf Rangnick. Players apparently refer to Rangnick's no.2 Chris Armas as "Ted Lasso" - after the hapless American manager from the TV series of the same name.

Neville, who made 400 league appearances for the Red Devils between 1992 and 2011, now works as a commentator and pundit for Sky Sports.

He claims that though his work with Sky, he knows the identities of the Old Trafford moles.

While he is not prepared to publicly out them, Neville has made it clear that he is appalled by their conduct.

He spoke out in the latest edition of the Gary Neville Podcast.

Gary Neville used his platform with Sky Sports to slam moles among the Man United squad

IMAGO/Jacques Feeney

"I remember when I joined Sky and we had the Champions League in the early years, and I went over to Napoli to do a game involving Chelsea. It was when Andre Villas-Boas was their manager and he left out Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Ashley Cole – four or five prominent players.

"I remember sitting there at lunchtime with our team and they were getting messages of team news being leaked and the manager being slagged off, and I sat there thinking: 'Does this actually happen?'

"Players agents and PR teams were briefing the media on a matchday about what was going on inside a club, and it was the first time I had seen it and known for it to happen – it really unnerved me.

"That is happening at Manchester United now – they are at it, the PR teams, the agents and the marketing teams, as a self-preservation for their own player.

"But what they do not realize is that unfortunately, when they go to the media then those media people go to us – so we know who is briefing. The reality is that we do not like it, but we know who it is.

"I thought that was downright disrespectful - I did not find it funny at all that they were describing Ralf Rangnick's no.2 as Ted Lasso and not only was it disrespectful, but I found it disgusting.

"It sums up what I think of them: that they are disrespectful. I think if I was Ralf Rangnick and his no.2, I would gain strength from that because I would not want to be on the same page of some of those players who are leaking those types of stories.

"We are not going to throw people under a bus here because we have that journalistic respect – but they are it in the same way that Chelsea were all those years ago."

Neville also took exception to claims that several United had named Pochettino as their first-choice to be in charge next season.

He added: "I don't like reports saying: 'Players want this manager.' Stay out of that. Get your own job right.

"If Pochettino is the choice of the board, appoint him. But they shouldn't appoint him because of what the players think. I hate to think for one second they are listening to the players in the dressing room."

United are currently on a three-match winless streak, having thrown away leads against Southampton, Burnley and Middlesbrough.