28 June 2023 , 05:43
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Gary Neville has admitted he ignored Sir Alex Ferguson's advice during his short-lived stint at Valencia.
The pundit opted to try his hand at management and was, surprisingly, handed the top job at the LaLiga giants in 2015. He only lasted 28 games, winning just ten, before he was shown the door and since been left to reflect on what went wrong at the Mestalla.
Neville's failings remain a stick to beat him with but whilst in the midst of battle he sought advice from his former boss, Manchester United's legendary manager. Ferguson urged him to cull players who weren't on the same page as him, but he ignored it and attempted to do the opposite.
He told Sky Sports in 2021: “Early on it was clear that some players were unhappy. I should have made big decisions on players that weren’t committed to the club at that point. I remember speaking to Sir Alex early on and his advice was: ‘Just get rid of them and protect yourself.
"Only have people in the dressing room that are facing the same direction as you.’ But I didn’t listen. I tried talking some players round to staying until the end of the season. But they weren’t happy. I ignored Sir Alex’s advice.”
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Neville endured several embarrassing defeats - the most infamously of which was a 7-0 drubbing against Barcelona at the Nou Camp. The 48-year-old admitted to feeling out of his depth when coming up against certain managerial figures who were operating in LaLiga.
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Gary Neville struggled with management and was quickly axed at Valencia (Getty Images)One of those was Diego Simeone, who is still in charge at Atletico Madrid. The Argentine's style and antics divide opinion, but have been immensely successful ,and Neville felt that he was being "strangled" by his opposite number when they won 3-1 at the Mestalla.
“I felt like he was strangling me gently throughout the game," said Neville. "I felt like he put his hands around my neck and thought ‘I’ll just toy with you a little bit.’ He was almost torturing me, football-wise, over 90 minutes. At the end of the game I went to shake his hand and he just stormed off past me down the tunnel.
“To me, you always shake your fellow manager’s hand out of respect, so I thought, ‘you are one horrible so-and-so.’ I admired that in his teams when I’d watch them, I’ve admired it since. His team represent him. His bench was all over the place during the match, they’re all screaming and shouting.
“I don’t know whether he’s like that anyway or whether he just thought, ‘I think I need to leave one on you here. You need a lesson.’”