Gary Neville reveals ‘stupid mistakes’ he made at Valencia during nightmare spell as manager in La Liga

The Sky Sports pundit admits the decision to accept the position is the only thing he has never planned

Gary Neville admits he made some “stupid mistakes” during his time as manager at Valencia.

The Sky Sports pundit veered away from his four-year plan as a broadcaster and assistant coach under Roy Hodgson with England in 2015.

Despite previously knocking back offers to embark on a managerial career, Neville reveals the circumstances behind accepting the challenge at the Mestalla.

“I’d turned down jobs in the Premier League and Championship and said to myself I wasn’t going to be a manager,” Neville told the Blank Podcast. “When I finished my playing career I said I’d follow three paths; broadcast, the businesses I’m involved with and coaching.

“Actually I should never really have pursued the coaching and you have to really immerse yourself in that every second of every day. But I thought I’ll get my badges as I love football.

“Then Roy [Hodgson] rang me up and said would you be part of my coaching staff [for England] and because it enabled me to continue my broadcasting and my business career I thought ‘actually this fits’. It was a part time role with England.

“I had a four-year plan and four-year contracts with England and Sky. I was six months away from the end of that plan when my business partner who owns Valencia Football Club, who were having a really bad season, said, ‘can you just take it for me until the end of the season’.

“It’s the only thing I’ve never planned... and I said yes. I kick myself to this day, not for saying yes, but for the mistakes that I made. They were stupid mistakes.

“Not taking over an experienced staff with me that spoke English and Spanish was a bad mistake, it was naive.”

Gary Neville looks on during his time as Valencia manager (Getty Images)

Neville then elaborates on why he failed to succeed with Los Che, including his failure to shuffle the squad to prove he possessed some power at the Mestalla.

“Not then changing the squad slightly just to gain a bit of authority and control,” Neville highlights as another key mistake.

“There was a couple of players there I should have moved out of the club, which would have established a bit of authority to them. ‘Hang on he has got some power to do something here. He’s in for five months but if we don’t play ball he can damage us’.

“What I tried to do was pick up a rocky ship and just drift into shore rather than really grab the reins, have a strong leadership with me and also make sure that I got rid of what would be people who were making it choppy. I made some mistakes and they were all mine.

“I couldn’t communicate with the players and the club was difficult but they were excuses. I knew I couldn’t communicate with the players and I knew the club was difficult, I knew the dressing room was divided, I knew it was a difficult time in the club, I knew they’d sacked 15 managers in 13 years. I knew I was going to get criticised.”

Listen to the full interview here as Gary Neville discusses his career on and off the pitch on the BLANK podcast.