Neville slams Man Utd for letting Old Trafford ‘tire’ and fall behind City.. and wants a ‘World’ created around stadium
MANCHESTER UNITED are lagging behind neighbours City in creating an impact off the pitch as well as on it, according to Gary Neville.
The Eastlands club have driven through the Etihad Campus project that features extensive training and administration facilities, as part of a project to revamp an ailing part of the region.
By comparison, Old Trafford is flanked by land used for retail, housing and freight purposes.
Neville believes this is a huge missed opportunity for the Red Devils and is symptomatic of the disrepair that the Glazers have allowed the club to fall into.
The former United defender told Sky Sports: "When I think of Manchester United and the land Manchester United own, there should be a Man United World around there.
"They should be influencing education and community, there should be entertainment for the public, it should be a real experience of Manchester United around that stadium.
"Old Trafford has been allowed to tire, the team has been tiring, the stadium is starting to look old and it needs investment.
"Around the area, there is a huge opportunity to create a Man United experience, something that can influence not just Manchester - their reach is global.
"Old Trafford is a special place, it could be so much more special. If you tap into what City have done over there with a far lesser name and a far more difficult hand to play.
"The opportunities for United are big, but they have to have a strategy and an ambition to deliver what it can be.
"The City owners have a vision of what they want for their football club and their football product to be while United seems more insular at this point in time."
United have gradually expanded Old Trafford over the past few decades but have forever faced difficulties enlarging the South Stand that is penned in by a railway track.
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Instead, recent efforts have been made to improve the ground for disabled fans.
And the club were recently given the green light to install rail seating in the North-East corner in a bid to turn up the atmosphere.
City, meanwhile, expanded Etihad Stadium to hold 55,000 fans in 2015 with proposals to introduce safe standing and grow their North Stand also under consideration.
