Social media users pulled a prank on Valencia's coach Gary Neville after Wednesday's trashing against Barcelona, as they credited the former pundit with a harsh critique of Spanish teams that were no match for Los Blaugranas.
The former Manchester United player, who recently made his debut as coach with Valencia, has not been able to win a single La Liga match while coaching Los Naranjeros, and after Wednesday's disappointing performance, a social media user shared a "quote" by Neville which immediately made Twitter erupt.
"You see teams go to the Nou Camp and get beat 5, 6, 7-0. Barce are a good side, well they're a great side. But if I was involved with a team who got beat 7-0 there I wouldn't be able to look my family in the eyes anymore," was the quote Neville supposedly stated while working for Sky Sports.
Well, a thorough investigation proves that Neville NEVER said such a thing. Following an extensive research on Youtube, Google and other sources, the quote can't be found up until 24 hours ago. In fact, the image used to depict Neville saying those words corresponds to the set used when EPL Monday Night Football is played, and that's when you look at your 2015 calendar and realize April 15th (the day he "said" the quote") was a Wednesday.
Furthermore, if you conduct a Google search using the keywords "Gary Neville analysis," you will find that one of the first pics shown is the one used to pin the quote on him.
Former Valencia goalie asks for Neville's resignation
Infuriated by Neville's "remarks", a number of fans demanded the English coach to be sacked. Since social media is so relevant these days, even a former shot-stopper fell prey to those claims.
Former Spanish international Santiago Cañizares vented his frustration on Twitter, demanding the former pundit to be sacked. "Cañi" was one of those who got fooled by the "authentic" quote pinned on Neville, but was calm enough to eliminate it once he realized it was fake.
"Valencia's defeat was the worst ever. The way we were punished can't compare to those of Karlsruhe or Salamanca"
1.- La derrota del VCF hoy es la peor que conozco desde q tengo uso de razón. Por la forma no admite comparación con Karlsruhe ó Salamanca
— SANTIAGO CAÑIZARES (@santicanizares) February 3, 2016
Later, Cañizares eliminated the tweet which quoted Neville's words, and apologized for publishing it without verifying.
"It seems that the statement was fake. Sorry, we'll delete it then."
Parece que es falsa esa declaración, que es un fake... Sorry, lo borramos...
— SANTIAGO CAÑIZARES (@santicanizares) February 4, 2016
Maybe Gary Neville's performance as coach has been disappointing, but that doesn't give a fan the right to attribute him with words he never pronounced. So, you may want to verify a quote's source before going out there to share it with the world.
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