MANCHESTER UNITED legend Paul Parker has launched a scathing attack against his former club as part of a wider criticism of modern football.
Parker, 59, won two Premier Leagues, an FA Cup and a community shield during his 142 appearances for the Red Devils.
But he says he worries for the state of the modern game, with the influx of money at all levels "ruining football".
Parker says he particularly worries about academy players being exposed to massive wages at a young age.
He said to Betting Expert: "The Premier League has become a circus division because it’s all about money. This circus division is slowly killing our game and the circus division has taken anything good away from our football.
"There was a time, many years ago, when players signed for Man United because it was Manchester United. Today players are signing for Man United because of… Yeah, god knows how many million they can earn.
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"That’s why Man United are also guilty when it comes to ruining football in this country. They are not the only guilty club but they are not innocent."
Parker began his career in 1980 when academy players completed something closer to an apprenticeship than being fully-fledged professionals.
Most players would have to clean the first team's boots and complete duties around the training ground and stadium.
But now we are seeing players as young as 16 earning tens of thousands a week.
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Tottenham for example last week changed their academy's wage structure in order to hold onto 15-year-old starlet Mikey Moore.
But Parker says that kids are ultimately the victims of earning massive contracts at such a young age.
He said: "Kids are growing up now and they get the wrong picture of football. They think it’s a sport that you start to play because you want to earn money."
"They should start playing because they enjoy playing with their friends and want to achieve big things. Not because they want to fill their pockets."
He also criticised the lack of competition in the Premier League now, saying the miracle of Leicester City's title win is unlikely to ever happen again.
He said: "Leicester won the Premier League in 2016. Fantastic. I loved it. But do the Premier League want that to happen again? No! at all. Of course not.
"We don’t want underdogs anymore and everything has to be won by a very expensive franchise."
Parker said when he was younger the league had more jeopardy, saying: “Back in the 1970´s when I was a kid, we saw some major surprises and people were celebrating it as hell because they had been nervous the whole week leading up to the game.
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"It’s not like that anymore, and I can be very sad when thinking about it and I’m even more sad when I'm thinking about how we are that close to ruining football, which should be a meritocratic system, really.
"You should play to achieve something and do everything in your power to avoid something as well.”
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