Gary Neville reveals the reason why he will never return to football management
Neville was sacked after four months in charge of La Liga side Valencia and left his role coaching England following the exit of Roy Hodgson after disastrous Euro 2016
FORMER England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville insists he will never go back into football management.
Neville, 42, was sacked after four months in charge of Valencia last year and left his position as England assistant boss after the Three Lions shock loss to Iceland at Euro 2016.
Neville returned to work as a pundit for Sky Sports, and with his other business ventures on the go, a return to football coaching is not on his agenda.
He told the Daily Mail: “It’ll never happen, I’m a million miles away.
“I suppose never is a strong word because in 10 years you might wake up and say ‘I want to coach’, I love football and the camaraderie but I don’t want to be in that environment any more.
“Up until 15 months ago I was coach of England and 19 months ago I was coach of Valencia, so it would be impossible to say at that stage that I’m never going to be a coach.
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“But I had turned down two or three Premier League jobs, I turned down two Championship jobs and I wasn’t going to go into coaching.
“I did it because it was my business partner (Peter Lim) and I thought that the opportunity for an Englishman to manage one of the top four or five clubs in Spain was never going to happen again.”
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Neville added: “It was an unbelievable opportunity and it didn’t go as well as I wanted it to, but I enjoyed every minute and it taught me a lot and things I will apply to my business life.
“I don’t regret going to Spain and I would have liked to have stayed in Valencia for 18 months, but I wouldn’t have continued in coaching.
“The buzz from football up to the age of 32 was incredible and that can probably never be replaced, but compared to the last three years of my career, I enjoy what I’m doing now far more.
“I look forward to football, but I don’t want anything to do with it in terms of playing or coaching, and that’s not because of my experiences with England or Valencia.”
Along with Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and brother Phil, he is a co-owner of Salford City, while they have also set up University Academy 92, to focus on providing students support while studying degrees in business and sport.
Neville added: "I was moving my career to these projects, I'm stimulated every day to be the best I can be in business and it will either be a failure or success in the next 15 years but that's what I want to be."
