Manchester United co-chairman Joel Glazer insists Gary Neville’s rants are “heard” as he accepts he cannot shut out noise just because it’s critical.
The former player turned pundit has been scathing in his assessment of the Red Devils owners.
Their role in the proposed Super League saw Neville take aim at the Glazers and their financial decisions whilst also highlighting other issues like the lack of work done at Old Trafford and Carrington.
As division between the fans and the club’s owners grew Glazer made the unprecedented step of appearing at a Fan Forum.
He was quizzed on Neville’s thoughts and confessed he had “good ideas” that would be taken on board.
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“I know Gary has been, to say the least, pretty hard on us, and it’s okay,” Glazer said.
“Everybody has their views. There’s two ways to look at it; you can just shut the person out because they’re not saying something nice about you and ignore it. Or you can pause, you can listen.
“People always have good points, good ideas and you have to take them to heart. You can’t ignore people. We can’t ignore things, we have got to listen.
“You can’t necessarily accomplish everything, it’s not always that simple.
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“Sometimes things are a little more complex, but Gary’s a legend. Gary did so much for this club. Gary has good ideas, good thoughts. And they’re heard.”
Glazer, who has been in charge over the club for over a decade, admits they have also taken too much of a back seat.
United have struggled for success since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement and frustration is growing.
The American wanted to adopt a quiet role and allow the club’s manager to take centre stage but concedes they need to be more prominent.
“We always took the approach that we should stay in the background,” he added.
“Let the manager, the players, the people at Old Trafford, be the ones out in front, communicating and talking.
“But in retrospect, that was not the right approach and there’s a middle ground.
“Our silence wrongly created the impression that we don’t care, that we aren’t football fans, that we only care about our commercial interests and money. And I can assure you, nothing could be further from the truth.”
