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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Kadeem Simmonds

Gary Neville rules out ever managing again after nightmare Valencia stint

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has revealed he should have stuck to his initial decision to turn down the Valencia job in 2015.

Despite having never managed before, Neville was appointed by the Spanish side and lasted just four points, leaving the club six points off relegation.

Neville struggled immensely while in the dugout, most notably losing 7-0 to Barcelona amid an eight-game winless run, and credits not speaking the language of understanding the "culture" as key to his downfall.

The job offer was initially rejected, Neville says, before the former defender changed his mind, a decision he brands a mistake which he vows never to repeat.

Speaking on Sky Sports' The Overlap, Neville said: "Roy [Keane] said before about saying no, and I did say no the first time I was asked.

"I didn't want to be a manager. I should have said no, it wasn't for me and I wasn't experienced enough.

"You [Keane] get p***** off all the time about people getting jobs and they don't deserve it.

"I didn't deserve that job. It's one of the biggest clubs in Spain. Didn't speak the language, didn't have the knowledge of the league and didn't have the knowledge of that sort of culture or anything."

Neville arrived with his brother Phil already on the coaching staff, believing that the remit was to steady the ship until the end of the season before building on things further.

However, things went horribly wrong from the beginning and the first-time head coach began doubting himself.

Having been a very successful player under Sir Alex Ferguson at United, Neville said the loss of confidence in the job was new to him as he was making mistakes as a manager that he, later on, said coaches should never make, such as constantly changing formation and players.

"Go over there thinking four or five months, I didn't think it was gonna be easy, but I just thought I had to basically steer the ship to the end of the season, literally four-five months.

"Doing a half-decent job but I actually lost my confidence over there. You played at United all those years and you don't lose your confidence.

"You'll lose your confidence once at United [and] you come out of it and feel strong, you feel like you can cope with anything. And over there I remember looking in the mirror one morning and thinking: 'I'm struggling.'

"Didn't know what to do with the players, was changing systems, all the things that I say on television now you should never do and it was too much.

"Out of my depth. I needed to get out of there but it was something that I learned a lot from. I wouldn't do it in the future. I would never do it again."

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