Valencia

Valencia president Lay Hoon Chan: 'Gary Neville never in danger of sack'

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 23 February 2016

Valencia president Lay Hoon Chan insists that the club never considered sacking Gary Neville despite the Englishman failing to win any of his first nine league games.

Valencia president Lay Hoon Chan has insisted that the club never considered sacking Gary Neville despite the Englishman making a slow start to his time in charge.

Neville took over from Nuno at the Mestalla in December for his first managerial appointment, but failed to win any of his first nine La Liga games, leading to speculation over his future.

However, Los Che have now won three games in the last eight days, and Chan insists that neither he nor the players ever lost faith in Neville.

"You cannot dismiss a coach for a poor run when the players believe in him - they believe in Gary Neville," Chan told Spanish sports daily newspaper AS.

"I do understand the football culture in Spain, but we have belief in what we are doing and we will continue in the direction which we believe is the right one. And with Gary we have been doing well; now the victories are coming.

"We are looking to secure a project. The first year went better than we expected, this year hasn't but we will continue to keep investing."

Valencia's next match comes against Rapid Vienna in the Europa League on Thursday, with the Spanish outfit holding a commanding 6-0 lead from the first leg.