What really went wrong for Neville at Valencia

The former Manchester United stalwart is widely regarded as an excellent analyst of the game but he could not put his ideas into practice in a forgettable spell at the Mestalla.

Few footballers have been as intricate in the planning of their life after football as Gary Neville has. The former Manchester United full-back thought he had everything on track - until he decided to accept Peter Lim's offer to take over from Nuno Espirito Santo at Valencialast December.

He was all smiles when he was presented at the club's rejuvenated Mestalla home in front of the media. After several years fronting Sky Sports' 'Monday Night Football', where he proved a huge success, he felt it was time to take the next step. The real step. What good was all his analytical work if he couldn't put it into practice?

Four months later, as he creeps out of Mestalla through the back door having controversially joined up with the England team to fulfil his role as Roy Hodgson's assistant, it's tempting to conclude that it is much more difficult to put that level of analysis into practice in real time.

The only surprise is the timing of Valencia's announcement. After shoots of improvement appeared in February - five wins in six in all competitions - they have lost five of their last seven games and slipped to within six points of the drop. Against Celta Vigo, the last game of Neville's era 10 days ago, they looked clueless once they fell behind to John Guidetti's opener. Why not sack him then?

After that game, the locals were out to get him. Why, they asked, did he feel it was suitable to head off and join the England team when Valencia were in such a desperate situation? Neville agreed, delaying his departure by three days. However, it only delayed what by then had become the inevitable.

Considering it took 10 league games for the first league win to arrive, Neville got a fairly easy ride early on. "The fans here have a very clear way of telling you they want you gone," he said during that initial winless spell. By the end, the chants of 'Gary vete ya' ('Gary go away') made it perfectly clear it was time to go.

As the results failed to improve, the scrutiny on Neville continued to intensify. His friendship with the club's owner Peter Lim was a constant talking point. The Singaporean businessman's hands-off style has become increasingly unpopular and Neville, some suggested, was his puppet.






But it was on the pitch where Neville really failed. Los Che never looked like they were really sure how they were supposed to play. He rotated his goalkeeper, he rotated Shkodran Mustafi's centre-back partner and he rotated Paco Alcacer and Alvaro Negredo. He also stripped Dani Parejo of the captaincy - although it's a decision the player happily accepted. 

He made a change away at Real Betis which he admits he regrets, but it was his dallying when deciding what to do against Atletico Madrid which really made him look like a fish out of water. Aderlan Santos was sent off and Neville couldn't decide whether to bring on Negredo or Aymen Abdennour. One got up, the other sat down. The other one got back up, the other one sat back down. It was all very slapstick. Eventually he went for Negredo. Within seconds, Atletico scored.

Results were unacceptable. They were thumped 7-0 at Barcelona as they were knocked out of the Copa del Rey, while his final record in La Liga reads three wins from 16 outings. They were an embarrassment in the local derby defeat to Levante. A few wins in cup competitions gives his overall record a better gloss - 10 wins, seven draws and 11 losses - but being knocked out of the Europa League to Athletic Bilbao was one of the last straws.

The club are as much to blame as - if not more than - Neville, though. When he arrived there was no video footage of his next opponents, Eibar. The infrastructure is at least a decade old. Neville could not believe it. He's since installed a system - which will remain in place for the club's next manager - which gives coaches access to games involving future opponents. Within that system, his successor Pako Ayestaran will also be able to view all of the club's training sessions - and not just the first team's.

There has also been changes to nutrition and rooms have had to be switched around at Paterna, the club's training ground. Neville gave up his office to the coaches, who needed somewhere to work, and had to create a makeshift gym for the players. He's also planned the next pre-season to give the club the best possible chance of kicking off the the 2016-17 campaign in a better way than the current one, which was down to sloppy planning.

One thing he didn't do, though, was bring in someone who knew the language, someone to help with his communication with the players. Paco Alcacer, while on international duty with Spain, admitted that it was a problem. Neville, too, knew it wasn't ideal.

The video analyst was having to translate everything. It was slowing down training sessions and doubling team-talk times - not to mention reducing the impact of the message.

Neville had regular Spanish lessons, but you can't learn a language in four months. He soon realised his mistake - the biggest mistake he made - and brought in Ayestaran. And now he has been replaced by the man he regrets not appointing earlier, with Ayestaran taking over until the end of the season. 

Neville's failure can't be blamed on a lack of commitment. He sought advice and was keen to learn from David Moyes' mistakes at Real Sociedad. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to learn quickly enough.

Privately, he's suggested he'd be keen to remain in Spain, regardless of how his time with Valencia ended. Whatever he does next, though, he will have to think about very carefully. Taking over at Valencia, whether Neville would agree or not, was probably too much, too soon.

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