Gary Neville opens up on the ruthlessness of Spanish media

Gary Neville has opened up on the ruthlessness of the Spanish media during his time in charge of Valencia. 

Neville lasted less than four months in charge at the LaLiga side after accepting an offer to coach the team from owner and close friend Peter Lim, with the Sky Sports pundit winning just three of his 16 league games in charge.

His disastrous tenure saw his side beaten 7-0 by Barcelona, as he lost 11 of his 28 games in total, before a 2-0 home defeat by Celta Vigo proved to be his final match in charge.

The 49-year-old has drawn comparisons between the Spanish media and the English press, pointing to the former’s tactical nuance during press conferences. 

Neville said: ‘The press conferences were relentless. Every single game the questions were detailed. The questions were a lot more tactical, a lot more pointed, a lot more specific around why you did this and why you didn’t do that in a game. 

Gary Neville has opened up on the ruthlessness of the Spanish media during time at Valencia

The former Man United defender lasted less than four months in charge at the LaLiga side

‘And if you didn’t give them the right answer you’d get a follow up. You felt as though you were being questioned in terms of you understanding of the game and your tactical knowledge. 

‘The questions that coaches are asked over in Spain are a lot more technical, precise and they hit you exactly where you don’t want it.’

Neville also claimed that he was targeted by the Spanish media as he was ‘the stranger in town’ and the fact that he was a young manager at the time. 

He added: ‘The next question would be, you (Geoff Shreeves) probably asked Pep Guardiola: “what was thinking behind the substitution of Kyle Walker for Laporte”, you ask him the question. And he would give you an upbeat bland answer. 

‘However in Spain it would be completely different. It would be “that was a ridiculous substitution. That was a highly questionable substitution you made by putting on Walker instead of Laporte. Why didn’t you put Bernardo Silva on?” The crowd was asking for it, the media were asking for it, every person in the stadium could see it.

Neville  says the Spanish media were more tactically nuanced and they targeted him

‘It would be a lot more clinical and maybe that was because they were going for me as well because I was the stranger in town and I was young and I think they realised they could potentially go for me a lot more than some of the experienced managers.

Neville won just 10 of his 28 games in all competitions with a win percentage of 35 per cent before he was replaced by his assistant coach Pako Ayestaran for the rest of the season.

He recently claimed he felt ‘massively inferior’ to rival managers during his time in Spain, admitting he had ‘no idea what was going on’ on the touchline. 

Neville also revealed the FA once saw him as a future England boss and were lining him up to take over from Roy Hodgson after he took his ill-fated role with Valencia.