When Gary Neville was a manager

In December 2015, Gary Neville was surprisingly appointed manager of La Liga outfit Valencia. It was surprising because Valencia were on the cusp of European qualification, and yet Neville had no prior managerial experience, couldn’t speak Spanish, and didn’t want to be a manager in the first place.

So how did he get the job? And how did it go?

Kaya Kaynak writes, Philippe Fenner illustrates.

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[AtTheBridgePod]

For Gary Neville, Sky was truly the limit after all

Edit: thanks for the love everyone

[akamiguelsanchez]

Neville made David Moyes’ spell at Sociedad look like Guardiola

[Josh-cmjw]

Contrast this with Bielsa, who spoke little to no English, yet was hugely successful with Leeds. Bielsa had a clear idea in mind of everything he wanted to do, so when it came to using a translator, the message was conveyed efficiently. If a player didn't want to be there, Marcelo didn't want him there and told him not to bother coming to training.

He watched every single game from the season prior to his arrival, had daily articles about him translated for him so he could take an informed approach to dealing with the media, and had painstakingly compiled dossiers on every single opponent whether it was a friendly against York or a league game against Man City.

The lesson is that when you have dedication to your craft, language is no barrier.

[colek]

It’s been 10 years since that happened?! Damn I am getting old

[Lennardy]

4 months of management, a lifetime of memes

[crysis]

Ironically, I think Hansi Flick's inability to speak Spanish/Catalan well is actually part of the reason he's doing so well at Barca. It's much easier for him to ignore all the BS from local media and allows him to just focus on the football. This is also partly why I think Xavi wanted to leave in the end, as he was too close to the project and it all got to him even with his strong mentality.

[martyvig]

Celta Vigo supporter here - Neville's spell at Valencia is still stuff of legend here in Spain 😂

[theRealEricCartman-ph]

Tonight on the Overlap.... Why can't Gary Neville speak Spanish ?

Roy Keane : well to be fair he can't even speak proper English

[lbcfc]

I did a walking tour in Valencia a few years ago. We walked past this Irish pub, and the guide (big Levante fan) told me that Neville and a few of his staff went there every night til late while he was manager. Apparently by the end fans were going in and abusing him, but he just didn’t care 😅

[jasontyson]

Get advice from Sir Alex, ignores big brain move

[daipyc]

Wasn't there a clip of him shouting on the sidelines calling one of his players name. Not only did he get the players name wrong, nobody in the whole team was called that. All I remember was his players looking confused beyond belief back at him 😂

[LiquifiedLK]

Valencia's ex-president on Gary Neville: "That Englishman we had, he was honestly the worst coach I've ever seen in my life."

[bilal]

Watch some of his punditry before the Valencia job vs after.
He was absolutely ruthless before. He'd break down tactics and criticise any manager. After, he mellowed down. He realised its not as easy as it looks

[rafaelmartinvannostrand]

Spaniard here. Neville is arguably worst managers that ever trained in La Liga. Seriously, it was laughable

[Antoto]

His tenure and Wayne Rooney’s tenures show why a lot of the Man U legends are pundits and not coaches. Often when they criticize managers and their players it’s always about mentality, lifestyle, and superficial things. Even when they bring up tactics it’s very base level. For example none of them mention how none of Man U’s wing backs can play like modern day wing backs which is why they struggle. Or how Man Utd never actually had a footballing philosophy. Their philosophy was whatever Fergie said and when he left they didn’t bother continuing his beliefs.

[selimt.]

thank you Tito Football, we weren't getting enough of Gary Neville in our daily lives, you should do Roy Keane next.

[ctrl-shift-run]

Football aside, Valencia's a really beautiful city. Highly recommend it.

[TheDeadlyTikka]

Love the fact Sir Alex just said to bin people off that want to leave. Couldnt agree with him more

[BraccoDeracine]

At this moment in time...he's doing very well for himself. Just goes to show how failure is real and that no one is immune to it, not even one of the greatest fullbacks in the sport. His life story will be a remarkable one. I hope he writes a book about.

[dj]

Neville attempting to speak Spanish would certainly be quite a sight considering he can hardly speak English. Also, calling him one of the top pundits in England doesn't exactly say much. Keane is another example of someone who sits there and has all the answers in the studio, but when it comes to him actually being a manager, he fails.