When Gary Neville headed off into the Spanish sun with Valencia, the given wisdom seemed to be that there was no down side. He'd take on the challenge of managing a perfectly average team for six months and the worse that would happen would be that they'd continue to be perfectly average.
Anything better and his credentials as a football mastermind would be enhanced. And even if he failed, he'd return to England, with his reputation in tact and the England national team job waiting for him to step into. If the worst came to the worst, he'd return to Sky as if nothing had happened.
It now looks for all the world that he will return to Sky but whether you can say that will be as if nothing had happened is another matter entirely.
The Sun are today reporting that, after Euro 2016, everything is in place for Neville to return to Sky alongside Jamie Carragher. David Jones will take over from Ed Chamberlain to round out the MNF trio but fans will no doubt be most intrigued to see the return of Neville after his spell in charge of Valencia ended in record of just three wins in sixteen La Liga games.
That abruptly came to an end in March with the club 14th in La Liga and Neville returned to England to take up his role as assistant to Roy Hodgson ahead of Euro 2016. It was his long term future that was of most interest to fans however, and according to the Sun's report it would appear that a return to Sky is a certainty as soon as Euro 2016 comes to and end.
Plenty will no doubt have something to say about his perceived 'failure' as a manager but Neville's knowledge of the game certainly hasn't diminished so it'll be interesting to see what he can bring back on our TV screens next year.
