“The decline of Manchester United…” – Tim Howard comments on Glazers are bewildering, says Collymore | OneFootball

Earlier this week, former Manchester United goalkeeper sparked fury with comments he made about the club’s majority shareholders, the Glazer family. The American owners have regularly attracted criticised from supporters, but their fellow national leapt to their defence earlier this week on beIn Sports (via United In Focus).

“I think they have spent money for Manchester United in certain places and I think ultimately the criticism of ownership from the fans, of any club, but if you look at Manchester United, it is often at times one-sided.”

Stan Collymore, speaking in his exclusive CaughtOffside column, has hit back strongly at these comments made by Howard.

“I think Tim Howard’s comments on the Glazers are shocking, and completely tone-deaf. I don’t know whether he has any relationship with them – I suspect not – or maybe it’s to do with him being an American speaking on American owners on an American show. Maybe he is trying to play Devil’s Advocate, but over here, it is playing awfully.

“The Glazers have leveraged debt on Man Utd year-on-year, to the point that they were seeking investment from billionaires. Sir Jim Ratcliffe has done that, and there are also interest from Sheikh Jassim too. Howard’s argument that the Glazers spent money, and that it wasn’t their fault that Jadon Sancho was poor, that Cristiano Ronaldo’s second spell was a circus, does not stand up. As owners of the club, they employ everyone involved, and they are responsible for those decisions.

Tim Howard during his Manchester United playing days (Photo by Getty Images)

“Personally, I am not a fan of the way that Sir Jim Ratcliffe has gone about things with the staff cuts et cetera, but in terms of the Glazers, they spent recklessly, they recruited recklessly, they didn’t hold people in important positions to account. And I think Howard’s comments as a former Man Utd and Everton player, who has seen the Glazers’ role in the demise of Man Utd, for me it came across as bewildering.

“Let me be clear, the decline of Manchester United post-Sir Alex Ferguson came from the stewardship of the Glazer family.”