Neville Out of Luck at Valencia but Justifiably Sacked

“I would have liked to continue the work I started, but I understand that we are in a business based on results and in 28 games we have seen 10 wins, seven draws and 11 defeats, which is not the level demanded by me or by this club,” Neville said in the wake of his sacking as Valencia manager.

While the timing of Neville’s dismissal came as a surprise, the writing had been on the wall for some time. The 41-year-old’s stint as Valencia manager spanned just 119 days – the shortest reign of any British manager in Spain – and he bowed out of the Mestalla with the lowest win ratio of any Valencia manager in La Liga history (18.8%).

Neville replaced Nuno in December on a deal until the end of the season with Valencia only five points off the top four, but three wins from his 16 league matches in charge has left Los Che just six points above the bottom three. Given Neville’s working relationship with owner Peter Lim, it wasn’t a decision that would have been taken lightly, but with games against Sevilla, Villarreal, Barcelona and Real Madrid to come in their remaining eight fixtures, it was a decision Neville himself couldn’t even argue with.

Valencia showed relegation form right the way through Neville’s tenure, and while the players were still behind the young Englishman, there were no signs of improvement on the pitch. Only three teams won fewer points than Valencia (14) in the time Neville was in charge and the 41-year-old was made to wait 10 matches before securing his first league win.

In fact, the only display of any real conviction from his players came in Neville’s penultimate game and even that provoked a sense of frustration. Without saying so in as many words, Neville knew he would not get the same commitment from his players in the next match, which coincidentally proved to be his last.

A 2-0 defeat at home to Celta Vigo was met with cries of ‘Gary vete ya’ – directly translated to ‘Gary go now’ – and signalled the first time the Valencia fans had properly turned on their manager. The board heard the message loud and clear and the decision was made to replace Neville over the international break with the man he brought in to assist him, Pako Ayestaran.

Neville’s time in Spain will be looked upon as a disaster and it’s not the way any manager would want to kick start their career in their first job, but not all the blame should be pinned on the shoulders of the England coach. The truth of the matter is that Neville inherited a dysfunctional and unbalanced squad full of players who believe they are as good as the agent that represents them. The Mestalla has been an expensive dumping ground for Jorge Mendes in recent years and the club are now suffering as a result.

Valencia paid Monaco £19.7m to sign Aymen Abdennour last summer and he has only proven to be one of the worst signings of the season. The 26-year-old committed more errors that directly led to a shot on goal than any other outfield player for Valencia under Neville (2) and the likes of Chelsea and Barcelona will now feel they dodged a huge bullet when they passed on him last year. With signals coming out of Valencia that there won’t be much money to spend in the near future, worrying times lay ahead for Neville’s successor.

There was also the fact Neville was particularly unlucky in that he made it clear he would build the team around Alvaro Negredo upon his arrival only for the former Manchester City striker too falter in front of goal far too often.

In fact, of those to have made at least 10 appearances during the time Neville was manager, only Kevin Gamerio (81.2 mins) averaged fewer minutes per clear-cut chance missed across Europe’s top five leagues than Negredo (86.6 mins). Often this isn’t particularly a clear indicator of how well a forward is performing, as some will say to get those opportunities in the first place is the mark of a good striker, especially when you consider Luis Suarez is fourth on the list, missing a clear-cut chance every 96.4 minutes. However, when you couple that statistic with how frequently players in Europe are requiring to score a clear-cut chance, it makes for grim reading for Negredo (every 304 mins).

While you can make a case to defend Neville’s four months in charge, there are some things he cannot escape from. In hindsight, Neville may acknowledge he probably shouldn’t have made his first step into management in a foreign country where he doesn’t speak the language or have any serious expertise of the league.

The fundamental principle of Neville’s role was to coach the players and get them back playing to a level where the club should be. Not being able to communicate efficiently would only inhibit that function and that was evident on the pitch. The fact that it took Valencia to go behind in order for their football instincts to kick into gear only highlights that further. Remarkably, Valencia conceded the first goal in 15 of their 16 league matches under Neville but battled back to earn five draws and two wins from those fixtures. Rather damningly, however, Valencia only held the lead in the league for a cumulative total of 90 minutes under Neville.

Valencia didn’t want to sack Neville before the end of the season, but with their La Liga status now under threat, they were left with little choice. Neville rattled through 33 different players in the league and in Europe in just 20 matches and often fluttered between formations. This was clearly a manager still searching to find his best XI and the right system to accommodate his players, which isn’t an ideal situation after four months. There is no doubt that Neville will be back, but the same may not have been true of Valencia had he remained until the summer. 

Were Valencia right to sack Gary Neville? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below