Gary Neville at Valencia: For the credibility of British coaching, the Manchester United legend must not fail in La Liga

Managers who have done the hard yards might resent Gary Neville’s soft landing in Spain

New Valencia manager Gary Neville (Getty Images)

“We’re all being asked about Gary Neville and none of us can say what we really think. He had a great playing career and I love him on TV, but being given the chance to manage a big, big club like Valencia without a single game under his belt? What’s that all about?”

The privately expressed thoughts of a prominent manager may not be entirely representative, but his tone – exasperated rather than angry – struck a chord. It is not just Neville’s credibility at stake as he comes to terms with unlikely opportunity, but that of British coaching.

Just as there is an undercurrent of bitterness at the enhanced employment prospects of foreign coaches in the English game, another conspicuous failure in La Liga, so soon after David Moyes’ failure at Real Sociedad, would have far-reaching ramifications.

Little is left to chance in a compulsively competitive, randomly illogical profession. Modern candidates no longer shake the mud from their boots and walk into jobs for the boys. They pad CVs with corporate management diplomas, business degrees and an array of professional qualifications.

This costs serious money. Typically, a former lower-division manager of my acquaintance, who currently coaches in the Premier League, estimates he spent in excess of £50,000 realising his ambition to earn his Pro Licence before his 40th birthday.

Those who have done the hard yards have every reason to resent Neville’s soft landing. To his credit, he understands the angst. No one, and nothing, will put him under more pressure than the inner voice which drives him to excel, whether it be as a businessman, coach or campaigner.

Neville earned a singular reputation when he was Manchester United’s shop steward. Those who worked closely with him under Sir Alex Ferguson were struck by his emotional dexterity; he knew when to use theatrical truculence, and when something more subtle was required.

He is indeed busy, to sanitise and shorten Jaap Stam’s notorious jibe about his hyperactivity. But since his retirement, and transition into a national curiosity if not a treasure, he has been given extraordinary latitude.

Most pertinently, the BBC have assisted Neville’s brand-building for United’s Class of 92, largely through the PR-driven artifice of Salford City, the non-League club co-owned with Valencia owner Peter Lim. Their progress into tomorrow’s draw for the third round of the FA Cup has been unhindered by objectivity.

Neville has a knack of acquiring influential acquaintances, and is also close to Dale Vince, the former New Age traveller turned eco-centric industrialist who is bankrolling Forest Green Rovers’ attempt to be promoted into the Football League.

Lim’s links to super-agent Jorge Mendes have fuelled speculation in managerial circles that the Singaporean businessman will fund a summer spree at Valencia if stabilisation is achieved. Usurping Atletico Madrid as Spain’s third team is a realistic aim, especially if their charismatic coach Diego Simeone is lured into the Premier League.

Yet pockets of resentment exist. Intriguingly, one veteran player, a familiar foe, highlights Patrick Vieira’s attempt to bully Neville in the tunnel at Highbury in 2005, before Roy Keane’s infamous intervention. His interpretation of the dressing-room code suggests the Arsenal captain regarded Neville’s pungent personality as a pressure point.

The new Valencia coach Gary Neville, right, with the club’s president, Lay Hoon Chan (Reuters)

The immediate challenge facing Valencia’s latest manager is to convince his players of his authenticity. Mark Hughes, who for the record is not the manager to whom I referred at the start of this column, summarises the delicacy of the situation perfectly.

“There’s always a point that comes quite quickly where you have to stand and tell them things so they think, ‘actually, that’s good information’. It doesn’t matter what your standing was as a player. If you start as a manager and you’re talking b******s you quickly lose whatever reputation you had.

“You’ve a couple of games. Straight away, most players are trying to work you out, decide what you can give them and whether you can help them to be successful. If you start on the right foot you’ve got an opportunity. You have to re-educate yourself in terms of what football is all about.”

Neville is a master of reinvention, but to use indelicate but strangely appropriate urban slang, his shit just got real.

Panesar finds peace

Monty Panesar has made the hardest call, taken the boldest step. By speaking openly about the paranoia which threatened to curtail his career, he has turned weakness into strength.

Inevitably his goals are personal. The left-arm spinner is seeking a return to first-class cricket next summer and an international recall next winter. He hopes to play for another decade.

Yet his cause is collective. By highlighting the lack of confidence which caused him to withdraw into himself and alienate those closest to him, he has given others an escape route from solitary confinement.

Monty Panesar is seeking a return to first-class cricket next summer (Rex Features)

Too often, his type of struggle is undertaken in isolation. Yet, by focusing on the team who have helped him to help himself, Panesar has countered sport’s oldest lie that big boys don’t cry.

Neil Burns, the former Somerset wicketkeeper, acts as his mentor, in conjunction with a hypnotherapist, a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist.

They coaxed him out of the cell of his celebrity status, liberated him with a restatement of simple virtues, like honesty about his vulnerability. He has much to prove before he can add to his 50 Test caps, but Panesar will never again, one trusts, walk alone.

Don’t make Fury a martyr

Tyson Fury deserves professional respect for the manner in which he seized the world heavyweight title. He deserves nothing but contempt for his homophobic, misogynistic views.

Those calling for his exclusion from the meaningless beauty pageant that is the Sports Personality of the Year are well-intentioned, but should be careful what they wish for. Such a repugnant character should not be given the chance to exult in martyrdom.