Gary Neville lost a lot of respect from the Spanish public during his disastrous six months at Valencia as manager, and following the start of the Euros, he has once again become a figure of fun in Spain.
The former Manchester United man singled out Spain left-back Marc Cucurella as ‘one of the reasons Spain won’t win it’ before Euro 2024. It came as a surprise to some that he started ahead of Alejandro Grimaldo for some, but Luis de la Fuente has been proven right.
Gary Neville said this about Marc Cucurella before Spain's first two games at the Euros 👀 pic.twitter.com/YLJdx6J4rf
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) June 21, 2024
The Chelsea defender has been in excellent form for La Roja, proving a tricky customer for both Croatia and Italy before being rested for the final game. Chelsea fans wasted no time in letting Neville know about it too, referring to the ex-England international as ‘Gary Clownville’.
Gary Clownville everyone, the Spain expert after having managed Valencia so masterfully.
How that biased tool still gets employed as a pundit is beyond anyone's comprehension. https://t.co/f2xxqVqtus
— Jimmy Funnell (@JimmyFunnellCFC) June 21, 2024
His cruel nickname has reached the Iberian peninsula, with several outlets picking up on the criticism of Neville. While he built a reputation for incisive analysis in England before the Valencia job, he did not have that same appreciation in Spain, and this will do little to improve his standing.
Gary Clownville
— Gautam (@Gautam402) June 21, 2024
There is of course time for him to be proven right, and prior to the tournament he was not the only to highlight the defence as a weak link for Spain. To Cucurella’s credit though, he’s been amongst the best left-backs in the tournament thus far.
