Gary Neville not expecting coaching return in the near future

GARY NEVILLE SAYS he is unlikely to return to management for at least the next five years.

The former Manchester United defender endured a difficult period during his first job in management after being sacked by Spanish side Valencia, where he won just three of their 16 league games.

Consequently, he was sacked after less than four months in charge.

Neville’s role as assistant manager to Roy Hodgson in the summer failed to provide any relief as England suffered a shock Euro 2016 exit at the hands of Iceland in the last 16 stage, that ultimately cost the duo their jobs with the FA.

But the 41-year-old has now revealed he will step away from coaching and instead focus on his role with Salford City, the club he he joint-owns with several members of the “Class of 92,” as well as his punditry work with Sky and other business ventures.

“I’ve committed now. I put two or three things on hold while I was in Valencia and in the summer.

“And obviously, after the summer I was, ‘Right, these projects go and we go with them now’. And they’re going. And I’m too integrated into them and at the forefront to go and do something else,” Neville told the Mail on Sunday.

“You can never say never but I think it is unlikely you’ll see me step back into a coaching role, certainly in the next five years.

“So the reality is that I probably am consigning myself to no coaching position, unless in five years I wake up and say, ‘Actually, I’d like to do something locally’ and something happens,” Neville continued.

‘But, honestly, at this moment I can’t see it at all. I’m far more passionate about those things I’m doing and Salford City than I am about coaching.”

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