Valencia challenge too big to turn down, says Neville

Neville was appointed at Valencia for the rest of the season on Wednesday, and Carragher – who initially posted a tongue in cheek tweet about how he’ll “miss” Neville at Sky – has now come out to back the 40-year-old.

Neville faces a huge test in his first La Liga fixture, when Barcelona will visit the Mestalla on Saturday night and all eyes will be on the ex United star to see how he fairs. “I want to show to the players I am capable of doing this job”, said Neville, who succeeds Nuno Espirito Santo, the Portuguese who was dismissed after a 1-0 defeat at Sevilla on Sunday.

“I’m not going to insult Valencia by telling them I’m coming over here and playing football like Manchester United”. “If I turned down this job I could have kissed goodbye to my credibility”, he said.

Neville may have only initially joined until the summer but, after revealing his family will make the move to join him in Spain, he said he only knows one way to go about a job. I wanted to learn about different things first.

Incoming Valencia coach Gary Neville says that he feels the time was right for him to step out of the TV studio and return to the game, but admits he must prove himself to fans and skeptics given his inexperience.

Neville will be presented at a news conference on Thursday.

“In terms of the FA and the England football team, when I spoke to Roy (Hodgson) he was incredibly supportive and he understood completely the opportunity for myself”, he explained. “I will take classes every day but I have a small problem as I will need to get hold of a Spanish teacher who will be prepared to get up at 6AM every day”.

“I hope that Gary is able to recuperate the harmony between the fans and the club, and that they can improve a lot”.

The siblings, along with other former United players, are also business partners with Valencia owner Peter Lim in non-league club Salford City in England.

Flores, a Valencia supporter, enjoyed 10 years at the Mestalla as a player before taking charge of the club in 2005 and leading them to third in La Liga and a quarter-final spot in the Champions League in the subsequent season.

This is Neville’s first managerial position – at a big and hard club and in a country where he does not speak the language – yet he insisted, as he was officially unveiled by Valencia, that he had confidence in his ability to be a success. He offered words of encouragement and support.

“He wants to play and he wants to come back as quickly as possible, but we will wait until the opinion of the medical staff”. I have to immerse myself.