Confident Gary Neville sets out vision for Valencia

New Valencia head coach Gary Neville said he hoped to play a long-term role in owner Peter Lim’s “project” as he was presented at the La Liga club’s Estadio Mestalla yesterday afternoon.

The former Manchester United defender turned star TV pundit has been appointed to his first management job — where he faces a stiff challenge to persuade sceptical local observers wondering if his friendship with the club’s owner has given him a difficult job he is not really qualified to do.

After first talking to Lim about taking the position just last Sunday, Neville was guided around the club’s Paterna training ground by club chairwoman Layhoon Chan yesterday morning, before later facing the media.

Asked what Neville the TV pundit would have said about a Spanish coach coming straight into a top Premier League job with no managerial experience, the now 40-year-old looked relaxed as he delivered what seemed an honest response.

“I would question it — as a neutral observer,” Neville said. “I would be sceptical and want to be proven otherwise. I understand that over here, I must prove to Valencia fans and players that I can do this job.

"He's like a burglar in your house but you don't know which room!" Watch @GNev2's best bits! https://t.co/Ny82hQyJ0R https://t.co/BSqOHwYynl

— Sky Sports (@SkySports) December 2, 2015

“I’m sure people will be on YouTube looking at things I’ve said. Doubts, reservations or concerns can only be removed through winning football matches.”

Neville said he had turned down other offers to manage teams in recent years, and only now felt he was ready to do the job properly.

“I’ve been offered jobs in football over last four to five years. The timing never felt right. I wanted to learn about different things coming out of football. I’ve been sitting on TV these last years talking about coaches, the time has now come for me to stand up.”

In Spain, Neville’s playing career is more well known than his punditry — and his 20 career trophies in 19 seasons in the Manchester United first-team under Alex Ferguson is widely admired.

He beamed from the front of local sports daily Superdeporte yesterday, with the headline ‘Yes We Can’ [in English], leading 16 pages of coverage of the appointment. The club also announced a new shirt sponsor, broadcaster BeIn Sports, just as Neville was arriving in the city.

A poll on the Superdeporte website had 71% of over 3,000 respondents backing their team’s new coach. The other 29% may have doubts about Neville’s decade-long relationship with Singapore businessman Lim, which includes property partnerships in Manchester and shared ownership of non-league club Salford FC.

Gary Neville out meeting the locals in Valencia. pic.twitter.com/3cUFqLLzuj

— 101 Great Goals (@101greatgoals) December 3, 2015

Valencia’s last coach Nuno’s reputation suffered as he was seen to be too close to Lim, and especially Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes, but Neville said he had no worries on that front.

“My relationship with Peter Lim is not a challenge — there is no challenge there,” he said.

“We’ve all seen inexperienced coaches succeed, and all seen experienced coaches fail. There is no magic formula for appointing a coach. I accept I must prove myself, and provide answers to these questions on the football pitch over the coming months.”

Neville said he had spoken to Ferguson since agreeing to take the job, but that his experience out of the game was now more important than the lessons learned under the Scot.

“In terms of developing my own management style, my four or five years out of football are more important,” he said.

“Managing big businesses, dealing with staff every day. I’ll do it differently than if I had gone straight into this. I feel I’ve had the time I needed to develop and mature as a person. I’m also aware of the judgement nature of modern football, I’ve just come out of that world myself. If I get fantastic results it won’t mean I’m a fantastic coach. Terrible results won’t mean I’m a terrible coach. I believe in myself, I only took this on knowing I had a fair chance of achieving things.”

Although his contract runs just until the end of the current campaign, allowing him to continue in his role with England into next summer’s Euros in France, Neville said he planned to work to a long-term plan at Valencia. He will move over permanently, with his wife and two daughters, and learn the language as quickly as possible — with help from brother Phil, who was already at the club having joined as an assistant last summer.

This apparently means he won’t be looking for a short-term fix of signing players he knows from England in January, but will instead work with the current team, many of whom are Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilian youngsters represented by Mendes.

“I want to work with the current players in the dressing room,” Neville said. “Transfers were not a consideration — I’ll work with the players we have. There are a lot of young players in the squad, who need time to mature, and need faith and belief for them to grow and develop. I’m very patient. I will make no decision over five to six months that won’t be for long term — I won’t think short term.”

Immediately though, the new boss will not be on the bench when in-form La Liga leaders Barcelona visit tomorrow evening. His first game is Wednesday night’s must-win Champions League final Group H game against Lyon, when to qualify they need to get a result and hope Gent slip up at home to already qualified Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Neville said he was confident his young team could quickly rebuild their low confidence and start winning matches.

“In the last few weeks, confidence and belief seems to have faltered slightly,” he said. “That happens when results are not going well.

“That’s the first thing to work on. I understand over the next few weeks I must appraise the players as quickly, and start winning games.”