Valencia have confirmed today that Gary Neville has been sacked, having spent the past week with the England team as part of the national’s side coaching staff.

Valencia won three of their 16 league games with Neville as manager, and 10 of 28 games overall. They were ninth in the table when he took charge, and they are now 14th.

Former Liverpool assistant manager Pako Ayestaran, 53, will take charge for the rest of the season. Pako joined the club as assistant coach in February, sparking rumours that the club were lining up Neville’s replacement.

“I’m the head coach of Valencia, I will be the head coach of Valencia for the rest of this season,” Neville said at the time. “If I leave, Pako will leave. He’s come to be part of my coaching staff. I understand it might look like there’s something going on. There absolutely isn’t.”

It wasn’t too long ago that some reds were calling for Neville to replace Louis van Gaal. It turns out this management business is harder than it looks, although our former captain was faced with a huge job when taking on the Valencia job.