Gary Neville explains why Saudi takeover should go through – and shuts down Miguel Delaney

A spat between Gary Neville and Saudi-protestor Miguel Delaney has emerged on social media regarding our proposed Saudi-backed takeover.

The Red Devils legend and Sky Sports star was undertaking a Twitter Q&A when he was asked for his thoughts on the controversial deal involving the Saudi PIF – who’ve been widely criticised for their poor human rights record while the Premier League complete their owners’ and directors’ test.

His response (see below) hit the nail on the head, but it didn’t end here:

We either adopt a policy of working with nations to improve policies we don’t like or we alienate them until they change to our way. ( we aren’t perfect ) .

I prefer to collaborate and set targets where they change their ways than not communicate / deal with and not impact them https://t.co/zrVoQcOYdL

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) May 9, 2020

This drew a reaction from fellow Man United fan Delaney, who appears to be trolling the Newcastle fanbase on a national scale since news of the takeover broke out, with his views on our potential buyers incredibly hypocritical given the Saudis own a 40% share in the paper he works for (The Independent).

Here’s the back and forth that then followed between the pair:

It’s very naive to think Sport doesn’t influence change !!

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) May 9, 2020

Miguel I spent a lot of time in Qatar doing the documentary and saw lots of things I didn’t like but came to the conclusion I did. You punditing me off is typical of “ Intellectuals “

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) May 9, 2020

Never heard of Sportswashing Miguel. Pundits don’t read..

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) May 10, 2020

The former England internationals response gained a positive reaction from the Toon Army, with his diplomatic insight seen as a sensible compared to the hypocritical bitterness that has been spouted from Delaney in recent weeks.

It appears that the Independent’s chief writer has it in for Newcastle fans surrounding this takeover, telling us we can’t get excited about Mike Ashley’s exist because those coming in are doing nothing but ‘sportswashing’.

Delaney has failed to highlight a single positive about what Middle Eastern money could do for our club, our city and our infrastructure. He has instead attempted to derail our hope of some long-awaited good news by pinpointing human rights violations in the Kingdon of Saudi Arabia. A fair point to note, but at least present it with some balance for context.

Delaney’s child-like protests would have more substance to them if he didn’t endorse the PIF for his own club back in 2018…

We’re glad to see Neville getting him told – in a reasonable and fair enough manner.

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