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Former Manchester United defender Paul Parker has heavily criticised the way that the club is “discriminated” against from within, saying they’re hardly even a football club any more.
Although United’s financial affairs remain strong, since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure in 2013 they have experienced extreme turbulence on the pitch.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the latest manager to feel the heat, hot off the heels of defeat to bottom-placed Watford, with Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal and David Moyes all failing to bring league title success back to Old Trafford.
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But Parker doesn’t believe Solskjaer deserves the lion’s share of the blame at United, instead highlighting how the Glazer family owners and unpopular executive Ed Woodard for making a mess of a successful club.
“At this moment in time, everything that’s going on above the manager’s head is shocking,” Parker, who played under Ferguson for five years in the 1990s, told the Daily Express. “The stories are coming out all the time.
“It’s becoming a hard world for everyone. It’s hard enough being an ex-player for a club, and if you played for that club and you enjoyed your time, you have a feeling for the club.
“You may not support them, but you at least want them to be right, and you don’t want them to be discriminated [against].
“At this moment in time, United are being discriminated [against]. The football side is, by the business side of it.
“It’s Manchester United. It’s not Manchester United FC anymore. It was a football club. Not a business, it was a football club for one side of the people of Manchester. Even that’s been taken away now.”
Van Gaal’s instant firing for Mourinho after winning the FA Cup was mentioned by Parker as an example of a club lacking in morals.
“You look at what they’ve done to LVG; disrespected a great, world-class manager, embarrassed him,” Parker added. “He wins a cup final and then they sack him after it.
“There’s a big, big problem with the club.”
The Red Devils are back in action on December 26 with a clash against Newcastle United.
While one set of United fans would’ve been looking towards the top of the table at the start of the season and the other hoping to avoid relegation, both teams are level on 25 points after 18 matches.