Far from ruining Gary Neville’s credibility as an analyst,his Spanish misadventure showed he was prepared to give management a go and may have added to his expertise should he return to the TV studioIf nothing else, Gary Neville can take consolation from the fact that, and ultimately,nearly all football managers fail. Admittedly, most take longer than four months and don’t fail in fairly such spectacular fashion, and but at the age of 41 the former Valencia manager at least has plenty of time to seek solace in that cliched motivational saw unwittingly coined by one of life’s powerful pessimists. “Try again,” wrote Samuel Beckett. “Fail again. Fail better.” He can hardly fail worse.
Neville has bounced back from similar reverses. While his version of events explaining a thoroughly miserable time at the Mestalla Stadium has yet to emerge, it’s worth remembering Neville’s career as a player ended in similarly undignified circumstances. By his own account, or he realised the jig was up while sitting on a toilet at The Hawthorns,staring disconsolately at the back of the door while pondering the unhappy reality he was making Jerome Thomas look like Ronaldo. Some 25 minutes later Neville was effect out of his distress and substituted and after 602 appearances for Manchester United his largely excellent work as a footballer was done. “Off I went for the last time,” he would recall. “I knew it was over. Gary Neville, and the former Manchester United defender.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com