Gary Neville’s appointment as the new manager of Valencia came as a shock to many on Wednesday.
Little over 24 hours on from the news breaking, the former Manchester United man was giving his first press conference at the Spanish club.
Here’s how Twitter reacted.
Before it began, plenty were pondering if Neville would speak with an unfamiliar accent…
https://twitter.com/ciaran_cfc/status/672438175818768384
Is Gary Neville going to talk like manuel from fawlty towers at the press conference
— Gary Simpson (@Gazsimmo) December 3, 2015
Neville appeared looking relatively relaxed. But given that he had a bottle of beer in front of him, who can blame him?
Gary Neville has a bottle of Estrella next to him in his press conference. You can take the manc out of Northern Quarter….
— Sam (@Sam______J) December 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/stevenecott/status/672436218542596096
With the press conference under way, Neville explained that it was the right time for him to take the step into management.
https://twitter.com/FourFourTweet/status/672438389245898753
And he was impressing some of the watching Valencia supporters…
I like how Gary is handling this press conference. Turned from shocked to optimistic in 24h #Amunt #VCF #GaryNeville
— Jacob Kjellerstedt 🦇 (@Encaitor) December 3, 2015
Others still seemed to be struggling to take on board the news.
Gary Neville in a managers press conference is a weird, weird thing. So hope he does well. Would love Giggs and himself at the United helm
— Josh Petersen (@japeydizzle) December 3, 2015
Some cynically suggested that he might not want to imitate the kind of football on show at Old Trafford if he wants to get the fans on side.
Gary Neville says he won’t insult the fans by telling them he's coming over here to play like Manchester United.
Nobody wants to see that.
— Andrew Gaffney (@GaffneyVLC) December 3, 2015
Neville stressed how keen he was to learn the language but remarked on how difficult it had been to find a teacher willing to wake up early and teach him.
CLUB | @GNev2 :"If someone wants to give Spanish classes at six o'clock in the morning, I'm looking for a teacher" #WelcomeGaryNeville
— Valencia CF (@valenciacf_en) December 3, 2015
You can guess what happened next…
https://twitter.com/TheRebelWriter/status/672439329038467076
https://twitter.com/connor32horrock/status/672439465663680513
While some were bust tweeting him offers to become his new language teacher, some were wondering if he’d still be keeping up to speed with his Twitter page…
https://twitter.com/JordanGriffin07/status/672439548455034880
When told that the Valencia fans are demanding, he offered a typically frank Neville response.
Message fans? Neville just hit that one out the park. That will go down very well with supporters here. "They're demanding? They should be."
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) December 3, 2015
In fact, there was plenty of praise for the way in which Neville coped with his first official outing as a manager.
https://twitter.com/kieranbeckles/status/672433565326528512
I'm not big Gary Neville fan but he's in great form in this presser. This answer in particular is excellent pic.twitter.com/8wCsnIDq8n
— Jefferson Lake 💾 (@JeffersonLake) December 3, 2015
Good first interview as Valencia boss from @GNev2 his commitment can't be doubted it won't be easy but I wish him all the best!
— River Boi (@a1vyndes) December 3, 2015
And although his press conference was well received by many, there was always going to be some negative comments.
boredom is actually watching the Gary Neville press conference
— Bryan (@psycho_alpaca_) December 3, 2015
Some were just worried about how long it was going on for.
It is only a 6 month job but Gary Neville has been talking for more than an hour
— Sunday Nkabinde (@Ceeya_Mav) December 3, 2015
