Valencia are desperate for Red Nev to be their Simeone
MORE a moody concrete coliseum than a glorious theatre of dreams, Valencia’s Mestalla stadium can be intimidating. When things are going well for the home side, that intimidation is reserved for the opposition and both Real Madrid and Barcelona have been sent home with their tails between their legs on more than one occasion.
But when things are not going well the fury is vented on the players and the resident coach — there have been 15 of them in the last 15 seasons, such are the high and occasionally unrealistic demands.
If Gary Neville gets things right at Valencia he will not find his new home wanting for intensity and atmosphere. Despite the mismanagement of the club before Peter Lim’s arrival and the decline that has seen them go over a decade without a league title, this is no football backwater. Neither does it draw in the tourists taking selfies in front of stalls selling half-and-half scarves.
Instead this is a place where, if they have a winning team, the supporters will turn up early to greet the team coaches with flags and flares and where people come too watch football, not film it on their phones.
The Spanish national al team’s most famous s fan, ‘Manolo the drummer’, has owned a bar on the south-west corner of the ground for the last 20 years. You can’t see the ceiling for the football scarves from all over Europee pinned to it. Come kick-koff time, you can’t see the floor either for the discarded carded paper napkins, sunflower seed shells, olive stones and plastic beer cups. Manolo is always on site, too, minus the drum he has been banging at every Spain game since they hosted the World Cup in 1982.
Spain played their three group games at Mestalla in those finals and it remains the favoured venue both for the national team and for the Spanish Cup final. It was where Gareth Bale famously sprinted off the pitch, in front of the two dug-outs, and back on to score the last-minute winner for Real Madrid against Barcelona in 2014.
It was also the venue of the 2011 Spanish Cup final when — in the midst of the Clasico Wars — Jose Mourinho won his first trophy in Spain thanks to a towering Cristiano Ronaldo header.
With steep concrete steps rising on all four sides into the Mediterranean night sky, when the atmosphere is good it feels like there is nowhere to escape. Neville’s challenge will be to create a cup-final atmosphere for Valencia’s home games once more. The stadium was only half full when 28,000 turned up for the first Champions League match of the season, which was lost to Zenit.
It was a flat night symptomatic of the cynicism that has washed over the club in recent years. Neville needs to get the ultras behind the south goal to crank up the ‘Amunt (come on!) Valencia’ battle cry once again.
Lim’s administration has done its best to breathe new life into the old arena. There are huge pictures of club legends such as Mario Kempes and Pablo Aimar hanging around the perimeter of the stadium, the black and orange paint job has brought a vibrancy to the concrete, and a huge bat — from the club’s badge — covers the seats on the ‘Grada de Mar’ (the stand of the sea).
Things did not go well in the summer transfer market for Valencia. With keeper Diego Alves and defender Shkodran Mustafi out injured until the new year, Nicolas Otamendi sold to Manchester City and striker Alvaro Negredo first ostracised by former coach Nuno Espirito Santo and now recovering from an operation on his appendix, they are weaker this season than last. Neville replaces an unpopular coach who leaves the team lagging behind La Liga’s pace-setters in ninth and with one foot out of the Champions League, needing to win their last group game against Lyon and hope Gent cannot beat Zenit. Reinforcements may arrive next month but until then he must make do and use the famous old stadium to his advantage. They will welcome Neville. He comes with a pedigree — a student of Sir Alex Ferguson and, as was being repeated in every sports news bulletin yesterday, a veteran of 85 England caps and 20 domestic trophies.
Valencia have been overtaken by the new third force in Spain, Atletico Madrid, managed by Diego Simeone. It’s a big ask for Neville to be their Simeone, but that is exactly what they will hope for.