Gary Neville accepts doubts about his Valencia appointment and reveals communication challenges
Tuesday 15 December 2015 00:14, UK
Gary Neville says he can understand the scepticism surrounding his appointment at Valencia, but is working hard to learn the language in order to help him settle at Mestalla.
Neville replaced Nuno Espirito Santo as Valencia boss at the start of the month after the Portuguese's decision to resign from his role.
However, the former Manchester United and England defender has so far endured a tough start to his managerial career, with Valencia having exited the Champions League after losing 2-0 at home to Lyon on Wednesday.
Neville's new side were also held to a 1-1 draw at mid-table Eibar in La Liga on Sunday, and the 40-year-old accepts there may be doubts in Spain about his suitability to coach Los Che.
"I absolutely would be sceptical [about my appointment]," he said - speaking before the draw at Eibar - in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague.
"I remember when Mauricio Pochettino first came over to Southampton, doing the first Monday Night Football and thinking that Nigel Adkins had done a good job; why have they got rid of him? Why have they brought in a foreign coach?
"And then within three or four weeks I was: 'Wow this man can coach. He's affected the team, had a big impact on them.'
"But I would definitely be sceptical, why wouldn't I be sceptical? If I was a Valencia fan, a reporter or in the Spanish media, I would be saying: 'It's a risk, it's a big risk' and I think it's a big risk for me.
"But the risk that I'm taking is manageable because I know the owners, what I'm here to do and where I'm going beyond five months. I know what's happening at the club, that they don't want upheaval, they don't want someone to come in and say: ''Five staff go, six players go' and all of a sudden they've got a mess on their hands.
"I think part-owning a football club has helped me with that situation in terms of understanding what owners want as well."
Neville, though, is doing all he can to ease his acclimatisation at Mestalla, including bringing his family with him to Valencia and mastering Spanish as quickly as possible.
"I'm getting a house, I'm moving my family over, I'm doing everything I can in order to be as successful as possible," he said.
"It's obvious that I need to learn the language as quickly as possible - that is the biggest challenge, it's the only challenge because one of the big things about me is that I can communicate well in English, I can communicate clearly, I can communicate what I want.
"But I can't do that in Spanish, I'm relying upon some very bad, broken Spanish at this time and also translation, which loses its impact.
"That's what I found in my first team-talk, you're speaking then you're waiting, speaking then waiting. You want that impact to come with these big words and you don't even know if the translator is getting the impact across and the importance and the emphasis on words that you want."
One method Neville has employed to get over the language barrier is to hold team meetings in smaller groups, like he would back in England.
"It's something that I'm conscious of, I'm trying to make that as simple as possible," said the England assistant coach.
"I'm having meetings with three players a time, rather than 23. That's the way we work in England anyway, we don't have meetings with 23 players, we have meetings with two or three or four or parts of teams, because it's easier to communicate.
"And there are actually five or six English speakers in the team, so I've just been in a meeting with Mustafi [Shkodran] and he speaks perfect English, he can communicate with the rest of the players as well for me, so it's good."
Neville also believes that his time spent working alongside England manager Roy Hodgson has helped him understand players better.
"What I've learned in the last four to five years under Roy has been invaluable," Neville said.
"My tolerance levels have completely changed in terms of understanding players - what they like, what they don't like, how to behave in front on them."
The extended Guillem Balague interview with Gary Neville is also available On Demand.
