Manchester’s Football League clubs desperately need help - maybe Gary Neville has the answer

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

People across the world look to Manchester for footballing greatness. 10 of the last 15 seasons have seen the Premier League title return to our city.

When you go abroad, after you tell someone you're from Manchester, the first question is always ‘ United or City?’. Without fail. With the Reds and Blues regulars in the Champions League, every other week our fans, our teams and our city's name is represented across Europe, and fans from other teams from around the world are welcomed to Manchester in return, as hundred of millions watch our stadiums on TV every week.

We’ve got the National Football Museum, the biggest club stadium in the country, and no city in England can rival us for footballing heritage. Importantly, that includes the bedrock of our Football League clubs, too, with five proud EFL clubs in Greater Manchester as well as Bury and another eight clubs in the top three tiers of non-league including Stockport and Altrincham of the National League and a host of others including FC United of Manchester. However, of those 13 others, at least five have had major ownership issues in the last decade, leading them to the brink of existence, with Bury infamously losing their EFL status because of their mismanagement. For all the good United and City do, football in Manchester is under serious threat. Not too long ago, Bolton and Wigan were regulars in the Premier League.

Now they've both stared liquidation right in the face and are trying to rebuild two divisions lower. Bolton's recent takeover was the subject of a much-criticised countdown clock on Sky Sports as the deadline for their winding up went down to the last minutes and seconds.