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Gary Neville has doubled down on his criticism of footballers' 'inauthentic' social media posts and says he no longer recognises many in Manchester United's dressing room over 'vanilla' and 'sanitised' messages.
Neville has long been a vocal critic of players not controlling their own social media accounts to engage with supporters.
Writing in his column for the Times, Neville believes players are being treated 'like fools' because having a social media manager suggests they 'can't be trusted to be themselves'.
Neville said: 'There are characters inside the Manchester United dressing room that I greatly admire not just for their football abilities but their human qualities — vulnerabilities, resilience, sense of humour and all the things that make them distinct. I don't recognise them at all when I see some of their social media posts.
'I see vanilla, sanitised messages. I read apologies that don't come over sincerely to me or any United fan. I see half the dressing room posting almost identically-worded tweets like they are reading off a script. And not just at United.'
Gary Neville has said he no longer recognises Man United's players due to their social media
Neville feels the messages being put out are 'inauthentic', 'vanilla' and 'sanitised' for fans
He added: 'Some of these tweets and posts are diversion tactics. You feel manipulated reading them and this is meant to be football, not some Putin-esque plot to control the narrative.
'It takes character to succeed at United or any top team. I want to see that
