Gary Neville puts his money where his pundit's mouth is as he takes the plunge at Valencia

Gary Neville admits he would have lost all credibility if he did not take the Valencia job

GARY NEVILLE insists he would have lost all credibility if he had not put his money where his pundit's mouth is and taken the plunge with Valencia.

 

The England assistant coach was presented as the new manager of the La Liga club yesterday after four years as a television pundit at Sky TV, where he regularly laid into managerial blunders.

Neville, 40, will continue with his England duties with coach Roy Hodgson's blessing, though he vowed his commitment to Valencia will be 100 per cent until his contract ends at the end of this season.

The former Manchester United star's boss at Valencia will be owner Peter Lim, who is also his co-owner at non-League Salford City, and he has flown back to England for tonight's FA Cup second-round tie with Hartlepool.

 

Neville insisted he is not looking at the Valencia job as a dress rehearsal for the England role, but admitted that as a TV pundit he would have been sceptical about an untried foreigner coming to take over at one of England's leading clubs.

"I have been offered jobs over this last four or five years but the timing was never right," he said. "I wanted to give myself time to learn but when I got the call on Sunday night I thought, 'What a club, what a challenge'.

"After sitting there on television, the time had come for me to stand up. I'm precious about what I take on and associate myself with, and if I had turned this down I would have lost credibility.

 

Gary Neville was presented to the media at the Mestalla on Thursday

"Of course I would question it as a neutral observer. I would be sceptical and want to be proven otherwise. I understand I have got to prove to the fans that I'm capable of doing this job. Doubts will only be erased by winning matches.

"I know people will be looking at clips from the past four or five years, but I'm not going to shy away from what I said on television."

Neville, whose brother Phil has been at Valencia as assistant coach since the start of the season, met his players yesterday for the first time and added: "I understand and respect the huge responsibility I have been given and accept it. I understand from playing here the passion and intimidation of the fans and I intend to try to recreate that.

 

"I told the players I will give my all for them and I expect the same from them. If Phil was not here anyway I would have wanted him here. He will be part of the team - it will not be a dictatorial approach."

And he took a major step towards winning over fans disillusioned by the reign of former manager Nuno Espirito Sanchez by saying: "I understand that the fan of a football club is the most important person.

"The rest of us are here to guard, serve and deliver the success they believe the club deserves.

"The Valencia fans are known as demanding but they should be - it's a fantastic football club and it's up to us coaches and players to meet their demands."