GARY NEVILLE has re-opened his feud with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis by claiming his axing of Ange Postecoglou lacked “class”.
The Sky Sports pundit has rowed with Marinakis in the past after slamming his treatment of ex-boss Nuno Espirito Santo.
He also said the club were behaving “like a mafia gang” under the Greek owner and was later banned from attending matches at the City Ground.
Now the Manchester United legend has risked the wrath of Marinakis once again by questioning the way he sacked Postecoglou.
The Australian was dismissed this month after just 39 days in charge and the decision was made only 19 minutes after Forest lost 3-0 at home to Chelsea.
Speaking on the Overlap podcast, via Sky Bet, Neville said he had learned during his time as owner of Salford City to sack managers “with integrity” and “in a classy way”.
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He also backed up Jill Scott‘s claim that “you don’t have to be a d*** about it when dismissing a manager.
Neville said: “I’ve sacked four managers face-to-face in my time at Salford. Honestly, as a football club owner, it’s one of the worst things you can do.
“You always think about the right time – obviously for the club, ultimately you’re doing it because the club isn’t happy and as owners you’re not happy – but you’re always thinking about how you deliver that news and where you deliver that news from the point of view of the manager.
“And also giving him integrity. When you get sacked as a manager, you feel paranoid, you feel like the whole world is looking at you, you feel awful, you feel like you’ve let everyone down.
“So you try and do it in as classy a way as possible, you try and do it a bit of time away from the game, you try and make sure he has the ability to speak to his staff and his players and has the time to build a statement.
“To do it 15, 20 minutes after a game, Jill [Scott] put it beautifully, to leave the stadium, and then do it 20 minutes after the match…”
Postecoglou was later replaced by Sean Dyche, who became Forest’s third permanent manager of the season already.
Dyche opened his Forest account in the best way possible as he guided the team to a 2-0 win over FC Porto in the Europa League.
Neville clashed with Marinakis in 2024 after taking issue with a furious Forest statement saying they would “consider its options” after a contentious VAR call.
He likened the statement to a “mafia gang”, which led to an apology from Sky Sports.
Neville later scolded Marinakis for coming onto the pitch and exchanging words with Espirito Santo after a 2-2 draw with Leicester – before being banned by Forest from their stadium.
The former England defender responded by saying: “I’ve dished out my fair share of criticism and praise in the last 14 years of doing this job and have never come close to this unprecedented action.
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“Personally, I think it’s disappointing that a great club like Nottingham Forest have been reduced to making such a decision.
“Whilst they have every right to choose who they let into their own stadium, it’s symptomatic of things that have happened over the last 12 months with the club.”
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