Gary Neville is not one who likes to say “never” but we shouldn’t expect to see him in a management role for the foreseeable future.
Neville got a rude awakening in relation to what it takes to be a manager of a top club when he endured a shocking spell with Valencia.
After just four months in charge, Neville was relieved of his duties with the Spanish side and he returned to his role as a Sky Sports commentator and analyst.
Neville doesn’t regret his time at Valencia and he has just revealed that, prior to agreeing to take over at the La Liga outfit, he was approached with several offers from clubs in England.
“It’ll never happen,” Neville told the Daily Mail when asked of the chances of seeing him back in the dugout.
“I’m a million miles away. I suppose never is a strong word because in 10 years you might wake up and say, ‘I want to coach’.
“Up until 15 months ago I was coach of England and 19 months ago I was coach of Valencia, so it would be impossible to say at that stage that I’m never going to be a coach, but I had turned down two or three Premier League jobs, I turned down two Championship jobs and I wasn’t going to go into coaching.
“I did it because it was my business partner and I thought that the opportunity for an Englishman to manage one of the top four or five clubs in Spain was never going to happen again.
“It was an unbelievable opportunity and it didn’t go as well as I wanted it to, but I enjoyed every minute and it taught me a lot and things I will apply to my business life.
“I don’t regret going to Spain. I would have liked to have stayed in Valencia for 18 months, but I wouldn’t have continued in coaching.”
The former Manchester United full back hasn’t ruled out the possibility of returning to football in some capacity, away from the media, but he has admitted that it will be several years before he could even entertain that notion.
“With everything I have on, there would be no role in football I would be able to take because it would mean me stepping away from the projects I have,” Neville added.
“I’ve committed to too much out of football to take a job in football over the next five years.
“As a football coach, the maximum amount of people you can impact with your values and principles is 20, the players you have in your team. I started to think how we could actually impact more people.
“My ultimate aim is to learn as much about business, sport, media and education over the next five or 10 years and deliver these projects and then settle down into a role over the next 10 to 15 years and be able to say that I’ve taught myself how to be a businessman, or someone who works in the media or in education.”
