COMMENT: So now he tells us. After four years in the job with England. Gary Neville announces to the world... coaching's not me.
He's giving it away for "business". He just has too much on his plate to dedicate his life to the craft. Great. Just great! He tells us now, after four years in the privileged, plum job of being England assistant manager. All that opportunity. All that investment. He's giving it away. Just charming...
It was a great read in the Mail on Sunday. A cracker. And no doubt many, perhaps the great majority, will have appreciated the Manchester United icon's honesty. But what about responsibility? Duty?
You could drive a semi through every sentence that he offered in his defence.
That job Neville had alongside Roy Hodgson wasn't some vanity role. It was a valued position. Not just in terms of what the incumbent could offer the England squad, but what the experience offered the man in question. It was a role perfect for a young, aspiring English coach. Eddie Howe. Karl Robinson. What they wouldn't have given for such an opportunity. Instead, those four years were blown on a hotelier.
Cycle back to 1992 and the Euros. Terry Venables drafted in another United legend to work with his players: Bryan Robson. Only, Robbo didn't abandon the caper after El Tel walked away. He took that experience. Everything he learned. And applied it two years later at Middlesbrough.
It was an investment well made.
Yeah, Robson's career in the dugout didn't get close to what he achieved on the pitch. But 14 years as manager in English football is still a decent record. And it all began with that call from Venables.
After Neville jumped ship, why should such an opportunity be offered to any of his peers in the future? Indeed, how can Neville, in the Sky Sports studio, drone on about a lack of opportunity for young, local coaches, when their flag bearer took the very best opportunity English football could offer and threw it away?
Where would Howe, the Bournemouth manager, now be with four years of international experience under his belt? Could such a position on his cv be just the thing that convinces an Arsenal or Tottenham to offer him a job? We'll never know, because it was wasted on someone whose heart clearly wasn't in it.
"There will be English coaches who are more committed to coaching than I am. Eddie Howe, other people who have committed their whole life to it, every waking minute, and they are the ones who should be believed in," says Neville. Shame he couldn't have told the FA sooner!
And then there's Valencia - which is just as infuriating.
While many in England were celebrating his appointment, this column warned that with no management experience, no playing pattern, basically nothing but a reputation to fall back on, Valencia's fans were being sold a pup.
Now, Neville says he took the job as a favour to Peter Lim, the VCF owner: "I went over to Valencia for the owner and because I have a relationship with him and I would not change that experience for the world."
In the same breath, Neville says on the continent "the belief in English coaching is low". Geez, how on earth could they draw that conclusion...?
Again, like the FA opportunity, it has to be asked: how far has the Neville experience set English coaches back in Spain? Or for that matter, across Europe? How does the paying Los Che support - the socios - take Neville's admission that his few months in charge was simply a 'life experience'. Almost an experiment. Testing the water. Seeing if he liked it.
How the hell does another English coach get through the Mestalla gates after these comments?!
During Neville's interview, he offered an anecdote recalling a set-two he had with VCF keeper coach Jose Manuel Ochotorena. Neville was upset that Ochotorena's goalkeepers were training with the outfield players:
"Ochotorena explained that it was better to do the hard work with their hands at the end of training when they were tired; that replicated a game. And that it was more important they were fresh to work with their feet, as in a game they touch the ball with their feet 40 times and with their hands only 15."
A great little nugget passed on by Ochotorena. Something that any young English manager would value and apply to his future training methods. But the 55 year-old wasn't imparting some piece of treasured knowledge to a young coaching prospect. It was to Neville. Something not to be used on training pitches in England, but as a throw away line in his role as a pundit. A waste. Just a terrible waste.