It’s been a terrible few weeks for Gary Neville in Spain. The former Man Utd defender and TV pundit was appointed as Valencia coach in December, but Los Che have been on a free fall since his arrival. Neville is yet to win a league game as Valencia manager, having lost four and drawn five of his nine games in charge. When he arrived at the Mestalla, Valencia were five points away from a Champions League qualifying spot, but now they are peering nervously above their shoulders at the relegation zone, with third from bottom Las Palmas only four points behind.
Check this little newspaper statistic from Sport, who have compiled a league table since Neville took charge. Unsurprisingly, his side are bottom last, having picked up only five points from a possible 27. Valencia have also been winless in their last 12 league games- their record for a season was 13 back in 1985-86 which saw them relegated to the Segunda Division.
The nature of losses haven’t helped either- Valencia lost 1-0 to Betis over the weekend but Betis were a team who hadn’t won in the league since November. They were also thumped 7-0 by Barcelona in the Copa del Rey under Neville’s watch- the joint worst result in the club’s history.
When Neville took over, the Copa del Rey was mentioned as a winnable trophy, especially with Real Madrid’s suspension. Now, unless they miraculously overturn a seven goal deficit, Valencia will almost certainly bow out of that competition tomorrow.
Valencia’s 1-0 loss to Real Betis- Video Highlights via Vimeo
Neville has already announced his intention to rest players for the Kings Cup clash, with one eye on this weekend’s all important clash at home against Espanyol. The Blanquiazules were thumped 6-0 by Real Madrid and 5-0 by Real Sociedad in their last two games, and should he fail to beat them, the calls for his resignation will go stronger. The knives are already out- former goalkeeper Santiago Canizares has tweeted saying Neville should go, and ex Los Che medio David Albelda has said that Neville’s relationship with club owner Peter Lim (the duo are co-owners of Salford United) is the only reason he’s not been given the boot already.
2.- Esperaba una dimisión del entrenador, además de unas disculpas. Seré ignorante, pero me sorprendió que no lo hiciera, le creía honesto.
— SANTIAGO CAÑIZARES (@santicanizares) February 3, 2016
Should Neville continue to remain in the hot seat and fail to get results, the odds on Los Che being relegated will reduce significantly. There are too many good players at the club for it to go down, but at the time of this article, we’re already seeing tasty 12/1 (SportingBet) and 16/1 (Betway) options for them to fall into the second tier. This nifty little site here allows one to track wagers made across various bookmakers, should you be interested in having a punt on them.
That being said, there aren’t too many top class options available for Valencia if they do decide to sack Neville. Rafa Benitez is one such option, but the league’s rule of not allowing one person to manage two clubs in the same season rules him out. And while questions are being raised about Neville’s pedigree (it is his first managerial job after all), some in Spain are also questioning the attitude of the club’s players, who are certainly not playing at the level you’d expect one of their price tags to.
It is a tough, tough period for Valencia. No club is too big to go down (remember Newcastle?), but they need to get their act together, and fast.