Thursday 3 December 2015 17:26, UK
Gary Neville's appointment at Valencia has been greeted with a mixture of surprise, scepticism and support in Spain - and, in the case of one local newspaper, confusion.
On the front page of Valencia-based newspaper Las Provincias on Thursday, Neville, who won 85 caps for England and is now an assistant coach to Roy Hodgson, is described as Scottish.
Their headline labels Neville's appointment "another risky bet" by Valencia owner Peter Lim, before adding: "The Scot, business partner of the tycoon, makes his debut as a manager at Valencia."
The former Sky Sports analyst will be hoping to avoid similar embarrassment when he takes charge of his first Valencia game against Lyon in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Among Valencia supporters, the reaction to Neville's arrival on a five-month contract has been mixed. In an online poll by Las Provincias, 76.5 per cent of readers described it as a bad appointment, but there was a far more positive response in Superdeporte, a leading sports paper from the city.
Superdeporte asked their readers whether they give Neville's appointment their vote of confidence, and 71 per cent of over 3,000 voters said yes. Their front page, meanwhile, was emblazoned with the words "Yes we can". Underneath, it reads: "An injection of character for a team that will move forward with the support of all Valencia."
According to Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, however, most Valencia fans were expecting a more high-profile appointment. "The decision to get Gary Neville is risky because fans expected a big name like Frank Rijkaard, who doesn't want to come out of retirement, or Michael Laudrup," he said.
Neville will have to learn Spanish in order to facilitate better communication with his players, but Balague feels living up to Valencia fans' famously high expectations will be a far greater challenge than overcoming the language barrier.
The problem is the expectations of the fans. He is going to have to do the politics as well as football.
"I don't think communication will be a problem because football is a universal language," he said. "The problem is the expectations of the fans. He is going to have to do the politics as well as football."
Neville's predecessor Nuno Espirito Santo led Valencia to Champions League football last season, but they are ninth in the table this year having won just five of their first 13 La Liga games, and their Champions League progression is also in jeopardy.
Valencia's days of winning titles under Rafael Benitez are long gone, but they are still regarded as one of the closest competitors to Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, and AS journalist Conrado Valle says challenging for a Champions League spot will be the least that their fans expect from Neville.
"Valencia fans are very welcoming and very demanding," said Valle. "While they will get behind him at the start, they fully expect the team to finish in the top four and will want answers if they don't."
As for the players, Spanish left-back Jose Luis Gaya and Portugal U21 international Joao Cancelo voiced their support for Neville after Valencia's 3-1 win over third-tier Barakaldo in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night.
"We haven't been able to speak with him yet," said Gaya. "As a player he obviously has a lot of experience and knows a lot more than any of us. We'll see what ideas he has and try to adapt to them as soon as possible.
"We've been told a little about his ideas but there are still a few days to go before he gets here. We've been told he's going to be close to the players and try to get the best performance from everyone. We're delighted."
"He's a legend in England and we're going to be behind him," added Cancelo. "We take things game by game and we will try to compete and win."
Caretaker boss Voro, who will assist Neville along with his brother Phil, also extended a friendly welcome. "I was told I'd be in charge of the team for a week or 10 days but the club have already appointed a new manager and I am happy with that," he said.
"I congratulate him and I think he is a good manager who, despite not having much experience in the dugout, has been in top level competition with a great side for many years.
"He was a player with a lot of character and I hope that he can use that. That's what we try to do as managers. We apply what we used to be and I think he can help us a lot with his experience of top level competition. I hope he can transmit that here."
Neville will be unveiled to the Spanish media on Thursday afternoon and he will be in attendance at the Mestalla for Valencia's La Liga clash with Barcelona on Saturday live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 7.25pm.
