Gary Neville: The issues that he faced at Valencia
Thursday 31 March 2016 10:38, UK
Gary Neville has been sacked by Valencia - but what went wrong?
The former Manchester United captain arrived at the Mestalla in December excited by his first role in management. But, after less than four months in charge, he has been dismissed with the club just six points above the relegation zone in La Liga and out of all cup competitions.
Here, we take a look at five things which cost Neville his job...
Poor league form
When Gary Neville took over, Valencia were ninth after a poor start to the campaign under Nuno Espirito Santo. The Portuguese manager had led the club to a fourth-placed finish in 2014/15 but Valencia were five points off the Champions League qualifying spots when he handed in his resignation.
Unfortunately for Neville he was unable to close the gap on the top four and instead saw Valencia slide down La Liga, following a poor start to his tenure.
Valencia went nine league games without a win at the start of Neville's reign, with four of their five draws in that streak coming thanks to late equalisers.
It wasn't until mid-February that Neville broke his duck in Spain's top flight, with a 2-1 comeback win at home to Espanyol. The victory sparked a run of two wins in the next three league games, but three straight defeats since then has resulted in Valencia slipping to 14th place, six points above the drop zone.
"The fear that has not disappeared in the last month is that a series of bad results could put them in a relegation battle," Sky Sports Spanish football expert Guillem Balague said. "That is something nobody wanted."
Copa del Rey thrashing by Barca
Neville picked up his first win as a manager with a 2-0 Copa del Rey victory over lower league Barakaldo at the Mestalla on December 16. The victory moved Valencia into the last 16 of Spain's cup competition, and they followed it up with an impressive 7-0 aggregate victory over Granada.
Las Palmas were the next to be dispatched, with a 1-0 second-leg win away from home proving decisive. Into the semi-finals, Neville appeared to have a genuine chance of picking up a piece of silverware in his first season as a manager.
However, rather than Celta Vigo or Sevilla, Valencia were drawn against Barcelona and felt the full force of Luis Enrique's side at the Nou Camp on February 3. Luis Suarez struck four times and Lionel Messi bagged a hat-trick in a 7-0 win which effectively ended the tie.
A spirited 1-1 draw in the second leg earned Neville and Valencia some pride, but their cup dream was over.
Europa League blow
Neville's first game in charge of Valencia was a Champions League group stage tie at home to Lyon. Defeat ended the club's hopes of making it into the knockout phase - although results elsewhere sealed their fate anyway - but Valencia would at least get a shot at the Europa League.
The competition would provide Neville with one of the highlights of his time at Valencia - a 6-0 drubbing of Austrian outfit Rapid Vienna on his 41st birthday. Valencia followed up the huge record-equalling first-leg win with a 4-0 victory at home to set up a last-16 tie with fellow Spanish side Athletic Bilbao.
However, following a first-leg 1-0 defeat on a near-waterlogged Bilbao pitch, Valencia were unable to turn the tie around - a 2-1 win at home sent them out on away goals. Neville was sent off for protesting about an alleged handball in the build up to Aritz Aduriz's decisive strike but after the game said it was the best performance of his reign so far.
On the back of their Copa del Rey exit and with their league form leaving them in 12th, Valencia's Europa League defeat left supporters with little to look forward to - and it was only mid-March.
Missed chances
Valencia struggled for results under Neville and struggled to score goals. In 16 La Liga matches they managed just 15 - the same number they conceded.
February's defeat to Sporting Gijon seemed to sum up their problems. Despite having 16 shots to Sporting's seven and being presented with a number of clear chances, Valencia failed to find the net and instead lost 1-0 to a second-half penalty - their first defeat at home in the league for 14 months.
"I can sleep at night knowing there has been improvements structurally in the team, but we should have won that game four or five-nil in my opinion," Neville told the press after the game.
"It's obviously the most disappointing result of the season here but it doesn't tell the story of the game, which was the best performance of the season. It's a game we shouldn't lose, you all know that."
It wasn't the only game in which Neville felt his team took less than they deserved - but, despite big wins over Rapid Vienna in the Europa League and Granada in the cup, all too rarely were Valencia able to make any dominance count.
Lost support of the fans
A culmination of poor results across all three competitions left the Valencia fans calling for Neville to be sacked after the 2-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo before the international break.
With local media critical of his work and even his mid-game substitutions booed, Neville was up against it. "Gary Neville admitted himself that he had no more friends in Valencia," Balague told Sky Sports News HQ. "He was quite clear that the media had decided he was not good enough for Valencia and the fans had decided that he had to go.
"The pressure on [owner] Peter Lim was massive, let's not forget Valencia are one of the top 10 clubs in the world. Perhaps the fans expected too much from Valencia this season - many expected them to challenge for La Liga.
"Peter Lim is miles away but he has a chairman who listens to the Valencia fans, stays most of the time in the city and has, for a while, noticed that things were not working."
When he was appointed as Valencia boss, Neville said: "I know the Valencia fans are demanding, and they should be, they are a fantastic football club. It's up to us to meet their demands." Failure to meet those high expectations led to his exit.
