GARY NEVILLE has been tipped to become a future England coach by the man he could replace as early as next summer.
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| Roy Hodgson has backed Gary Neville to become England's manager one day |
England boss Roy Hodgson championed the credentials of Neville, who is his assistant in the current set-up but who is now cutting his managerial teeth in La Liga with Valencia.
Hodgson’s contract expires in six months with England’s performance at Euro 2016 crucial to his hopes of being offered a new deal.
Neville is highly-regarded by the Football Association and when Hodgson was asked if the former Manchester United defender could become a future national coach he was unequivocal.
“Of course he could. No question of that,” he said. “He’s got those qualities and these five months will encourage him in his career. He’s got lots of strings to his bow. He’s got lots of possibilities.
“I’ve always known that he wants to be on that field of play, he wants to be out there coaching, and now he’ll have a real chance to decide in which direction he really wants to go in the future because he’s really taken the plunge now.
“This period of time he’ll spend out there will be tremendous for him. It’s a baptism of fire but knowing Gary so well a baptism of fire will be what he wanted. He likes that challenge.
“I’ve spoken at length to him and he’s already enjoying it enormously there. He knows that it will be difficult, it would have been difficult to take over a team that was flying when he got there but of course whenever you take over a team it’s often because the team isn’t flying.
“It’s quite the opposite - the team is in difficulty.
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| Neville is leading Valencia in Spain after taking over as coach last month |
“But he’ll succeed, there’s no question of that. He’s got all the qualities necessary and the experience can only do him good as a person and a coach and those experiences can only do us good because we’re already benefitting from his experience as a former player, especially as a former player with England.
“We’re benefiting from his ability to analyse and work with our video technician, to put together the right type of videos for the players about post-match analysis and pre-match analysis.
“And now we’ll gain from the fact he’s had even more responsibility and he’ll come back a stronger coach than when he went and he was already quite strong when he went.
“So we can look forward to seeing an even stronger man with us in the summer and I look forward to that.”
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| Hodgson is out of contract in the summer after Euro 2016 |
In an interview with Sky Sports News HQ, Hodgson also described injured Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere as a “real talent” and gave him encouragement as he battles back to fitness following his latest injury setback.
Wilshere has yet to play for Arsenal this season as he recovers from a hairline fracture to his fibula, but is hoping 2016 will see him kick-start his stalled career.
“He absolutely is (important),” said Hodgson. “I haven’t given up hope that he’ll get over the broken leg - broken legs they do take time to heel, but I’m really hopeful he’ll get over that and in the New Year we’ll see him playing regularly again.
“And if that happens he’s definitely going to be an important figure for us because the type of talent he has is a rare talent.
“We’re more used to seeing it in continental players and Mediterranean style players than players if you like from the northern hemisphere."
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| Jack Wilshere is yet to play for Arsenal this season after suffering another injury |
England will boast a young squad in France next summer and Hodgson believes that will make the presence of skipper Wayne Rooney in his final squad all the more important.
Rooney has struggled for goals for Manchester United this term, but remains England’s talisman.
“The most important thing for him, as far as I’m concerned, is that he’s got to keep playing well for Man United, and playing well for England when we have our games together and that he still leads by example on the field,” said Hodgson.
“It doesn’t matter how good work he can do for us off the field in terms of being some sort of mentor for the players, we really need him being Wayne Rooney on the field: scoring goals, making goals and with his drive and commitment leading us forward.
“We don’t have that many players over the age of 30 and Wayne’s only just turned 30 so those ones that are a little bit older and have a bit more experience - and Wayne’s right at the top of that with his 100 and whatever caps – he’s going to be important because a lot of players going to the Euros won’t have that experience.
“They won’t even know some of them what it’s like to be involved in a tournament and they’ll need to turn to people like Wayne in the quiet moments to maybe get some inspiration and some help.”
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