Gary Neville, new manager of Valencia, was by all standards a successful player in his playing days at Manchester United. After hanging his boots, Neville became a football pundit, something else he succeeded at.
However, he has to prove to the world that he can transfer his years of experience as a player and pundit to successfully managing a club as big as Valencia.
To this end, he has given every player in the squad an Apple iPad which is meant to help them “follow training and different actions during games”, his assistant Miguel Angel Angulo said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Angulo also said that he was very impressed with the way the new English coach was settling in at the club despite the language barrier.
“He is doing better than I expected. I thought the language barrier would be more of a problem. Gary has already started to speak a little Spanish and he is improving quickly. There is a good understanding with the players asking him or me what is wanted.
“It won’t take long before we can demonstrate the style of football that we want.”
The 40-year-old tactician’s first two games at the club have been far from convincing, after they crashed of the UEFA Champions League in the group stage with a home loss to Olympique Lyonnais and only managed to secure a draw against Eibar in the La Liga.
He will however get a chance to put himself in sound footing when the club plays lowly Barakaldo in the return leg of the Copa Del Rey last 16. They are already 3-1 up from the first leg result.