Manchester United legend Gary Neville has defended the club's owners.

The Glazers, including executive co-chairmen Avram and Joel Glazer, have received a considerable amount of criticism from United supporters since taking over the club in 2005.

Neville told The Times: "I know the Glazer family, met them probably five times in my life, but whatever Gary Neville says they are not going to do anything. Trust me. They're going to sell when they want to sell.

"They're hardened business people who lived through a campaign of green and gold for two years where the fans were essentially battering them, effigies everywhere and they didn't budge one inch.

"If Gary Neville comes out tomorrow and says 'the Glazer ownership is bad for Manchester United' they'll just shrug their shoulders and say 'there's another one'."

He added: "If you said to me, some people don't believe Sheikh Mansour [at Manchester City] is a good owner of a football club because of the human rights issues in Abu Dhabi, others would say they have been the most incredible owners, because they have invested into Manchester, into the stadium, into the team.

"I can see both sides of the story, but what I can see is the amazing impact they have made over that side of the city."