Manchester United legend Gary Neville has slammed Bruno Fernandes after he issued an apology following his stoppage-time penalty miss against Aston Villa.
The Portuguese midfielder wasted a chance to claim a scarcely deserved point at Old Trafford over the weekend when he hit his effort high over the crossbar and into the stand.
United’s defeat compounded a disappointing couple of weeks, having also lost to Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League and been eliminated out of the Carabao Cup against West Ham.
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On Saturday evening, Fernandes addressed his penalty miss in a lengthy post on social media that was nearly 300 words long, thanking supporters for their support and pledging to ‘keep doing everything I can to help my teammates’.
His message echoed a similar post made by Jesse Lingard just a week earlier, when the player apologised for his poor back pass that gifted Young Boys a late winner.
But Neville has blasted the trend of players issuing statements to apologise for every mistake in games, labelling it ‘embarrassing’ and even suggested Fernandes and Lingard should sack their PR teams.
Asked on Twitter whether players should be apologising for missing a spot kick, Neville replied: ‘It’s embarrassing! They need to sack their PR people, speak with some authenticity and get on with it.
‘I’m going to go big on this in the next few weeks. They’ve all got these communications managers that are creating personalities that don’t exist!’
United’s social media account was ridiculed for sharing a picture of their players commenting on Fernandes’ Instagram post, with the message ‘United, always’. They also shared a similar graphic after Lingard’s apology too.
Fernandes had written: ‘I’m a player who leaves everything on the pitch, with great desire and commitment. And that’s what I’ll continue to do.
‘Thank you for all your support after the final whistle! Hearing you chanting my name in the stadium was very emotional…
‘I will come back stronger for me, because these are the standards I hold myself to, but most of all for my teammates and our fans who have always supported us.’
