Attending a long interview for Sky Sports UK, English 41-year old Gary Neville talked about his past and future choices:
"I always say 'never say never', because my love of football is too great, but I genuinely believe it will be very difficult for me to go back into coaching, because of my commitment now to so many different things. It's my obligation to deliver Salford City to the Football League. It's my obligation to roll out Hotel Football internationally. It's my obligation to deliver high-end restaurants with Michael O'Hare. It's my obligation to deliver St Michael's, which I believe is the best development in Manchester. I can't go back into coaching now in the short term - the next five years - and the reality of it is I don't want to.
It could be that I'm no longer ever a coach in football, but that's not a loss. Some people might think it is, but the fact of the matter is it's not to me. There is nothing worse than hearing someone give reasons for why they've failed - of course sometimes there are reasons - but you have to take the blame yourself. I cannot open that hotel and blame the general manager for it failing. Why? I appointed the general manager.
I can't go to Spain for four months, be coach of Valencia, and blame the fact there was a difficult dressing room, I didn't speak the language, we had bad luck and we missed some chances. Why? Because I knew I didn't speak the language before I went, I knew it was a difficult dressing room, I knew they had sacked lots of managers, and I didn't deal with it. People will always look at that externally and think it was a negative experience. For me, personally, I lost football matches, but what I gained was general experience of life, culture and appreciation for a different country.
I thought, 'When am I going to get offered an opportunity like this again?' An English manager coaching a top-four club in Spain. I knew I didn't speak the language, and had been on courses where foreign coaches had talked about the challenges and problems when you don't speak the language. There were two or three big things I did wrong, and should have been more insistent on, but I also knew the reason why the owner wanted me to take the job was because he didn't want a coach to come in, lump six players out, create more upheaval and bring six new coaches in.
The FA and Roy Hodgson invested in me for four year,s and I'm the most experienced I've ever been, yet you get chucked overboard. The reality is the investment has to come through defeat and victory. The pathway for young coaches cannot just be based on a run of defeats or a run of victories otherwise you are forever changing.
I heard [FA chief executive] Martin Glenn say ex-players go into punditry for the money. It's not that simple. It's an excuse, but don't tell me the problem, tell me the solution. Holland have the solution. Ajax have the solution. Barcelona have the solution. There are models out there. They create pathways and they keep you on the pathway".
Source: transfermarketweb.com