Former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville is not targeting a long-term career in management and says he is “relaxed” about how long he stays at the helm of Spanish side Valencia.
The England assistant coach made a surprise move to Valencia last month to take up his first managerial post until the end of the season, but insists his future lies in other projects.
“I’m not going to say where I want to end up, and it isn’t in management or head coaching, so I want to be clear about that,” Neville, who has been linked as a possible replacement for under fire Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal, told Sky Sports.
“That’s not my ultimate goal of where I want to be.”
Neville was juggling his England role with punditry work for Sky Sports and co-ownership of Salford City among other interests before moving to Valencia, where he confesses language problems during halftime team talks have been “the biggest frustration and challenge so far”.
“From my point of view, I was really enjoying what I was doing, I really was, the multiple things I had on, even though I knew it was coming to a point where I had to make decisions at the end of this season,” added Neville.
“I think it is uncertain the amount of time I’ll be here but (even) if I got given a five-year contract I think it would be uncertain about the amount of time I’d be here. That’s why I’m relaxed.”
Neville, who is England’s most-capped right back with 85 caps, said the national side needed to go through the “pain” of failing at the last World Cup in order to improve.
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