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Gary Neville has revealed the FA once saw him as a future England boss and were lining him up to take over from Roy Hodgson after he took his ill-fated role with Valencia.

The Sky Sports pundit has only managed one club in his career after a brief spell the LaLiga team but he only lasted less than four months in the job after a disastrous period that saw him win just three of his 16 league games.

Neville's stock had been high before he took the Valencia job having also worked under Hodgson as an England first team coach, and the 49-year-old claimed FA director Dan Ashworth felt his first role in management was 'perfect' for him to eventually succeed the veteran coach as the next Three Lions boss.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, he said: 'I've never said this publicly, but I remember getting the Valencia job in December, and Dan Ashworth rang me and said this was the perfect move for me to be on that next step for when Roy Hodgson decided he wanted to leave the England job, for me to take over.

'I always remember that phone call and him saying this was the perfect opportunity, but I look back now, and it was right that I failed in the job because I didn't put the work in. With how my work ethic is now, I needed to fail to have that slap in the face moment, for me to get back to it, which is where I am now.'