Gary Neville was embroiled in a Twitter row owner with Accrington Stanley owner Andy Holt after the latter accused Neville of trying to 'steal' a place in the EFL following Salford City's signing of Irish striker Adam Rooney from Aberdeen.
Neville is a co-owner of Salford City, and the recently promoted National League club raised eyebrows following the signing of Rooney from Aberdeen, with the forward reported to be on £4,000 a week in the fifth tier of English football.
Holt tweeted his disapproval at the deal tagging the the Sky Sports pundit:
Clubs run right in @EFL being attacked from all angles by Shite rules and chancers.
Couldn’t agree more with sentiments below. Who’s place in the football league is @GNev2 going to steal with this piss take.
Has to be limits on budgets all through league structure. https://t.co/aj2DvQKU0x
— Andyh (@AndyhHolt) July 19, 2018
I didn't take long for Neville to respond, accusing Holt of wanting "a franchise league where the established can’t be challenged":
Steal! I hope it’s yours now!5 ex players have matched all investment with our co-owner to build a stadium , build a successful team in a city we love and invest in football. We’ve invested millions . You seem to want a franchise league where the established can’t be challenged!
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 19, 2018
The pair continued to trade jibes on Twitter with neither prepared to back down:
You’re absolutely right! They have players on a lot more money than ours! He’s reading the papers ! I bet he’s pumping money in to keep his club competing!! Come on tell us Mr Chairman?
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 19, 2018
No he probably wasn’t ! We’ve been humble all the way through and asked advice from lots of Chairman and owners about how best to do this. He’s the first to go rouge and I ain’t gonna stop on him!
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 19, 2018
I don’t know. We don’t run our club right! Only poor little Accrington do !!
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 19, 2018
We put a lot of money in and aren’t embarrassed about it but you think I’m going to disclose my wages on here ? He wants Franchise Football
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 19, 2018
While you can understand Holt's frustration at the ability of Salford to pay higher wages, you can hardly begrudge Neville and co. making the most of their financial muscle as the look to climb up the leagues.
