The Valencia head coach – who has remained as Roy Hodgson’s assistant after his surprise appointment in Spain – said that the England manager deserved credit for having “completely transformed” the squad in recent years, dramatically lowering its average age from 28 to “24, 25”.
Neville has stayed on in his role as England assistant despite the Valencia job
“People say ‘oh the World Cup was a bad result’ but what do you expect when you are transitioning from Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Gerrard, Johnson to a new group of players?” Neville told Telegraph Sport, citing “Wilshere, Sterling, Welbeck, Stones, Shaw, Barkley, Dier, Dele Alli” as England’s future.
“There has to be some sort of pain along the way and I just feel the way he [Hodgson] managed that transition – and I am thinking of specific discussions I had with him with England as a coaching team – he’s proven to be right,” Neville said.
England lost their first two matches in Brazil in 2014 and failed to progress through the group stages but go into Euro 2016 with a perfect qualification record of 10 wins.
England crashed out of Brazil 2014 without winning any matches
Neville, searching for his first La Liga victory on Sunday when Real Madrid visit the Mestalla, said it was more important to get preparations right for France than to predict how well England might do. “We have discussed the Euros and the idea that it has got to be the semis, got to be the final, the quarters,” Neville said.
“I just hope that all the young players we have are fit. That’s the first thing. I hope that they are in a good moment and I think this is what Roy would say. And that we carry on doing the things we are doing now.
“The idea of saying ‘it has to semis, quarters’, we’ve gone past that. We’ve had too many experiences of wild statements. I played in four tournaments [for England] with managers who said ‘we are going to win it’ and it was ‘rah, rah, rah wonderful’. Let’s just think about doing the right things.”
The FA want Hodgson - pictured with his Euro 16 Group B rivals - to stay on
He added: “I feel that with England that over three, four years, we are in such a better position now of understanding the players, through Roy’s coaching and what we do off the field as well, and it takes time.”
The FA chief executive, Martin Glenn, has already suggested the organisation would like Hodgson to carry on beyond the Euros.
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