Valencia have taken a major risk by appointing Gary Neville, according to club legend Santiago Canizares.
Former Manchester United defender Neville, 40, has worked as a member of England's coaching staff under Roy Hodgson as well as doing punditry work for Sky Sports since hanging up his boots in 2011.
He was this week handed his first managerial role with Valencia, where his brother Phil was already on the coaching staff, but his lack of experience and inability to speak Spanish have prompted questions over the wisdom of the appointment.
Ex-Spain goalkeeper Canizares, who spent a decade with Los Che and was part of the title-winning sides of 2001-02 and 2003-04, suggested there was little reason to be optimistic about the appointment.
"In Valencia we know almost nothing about Gary Neville -- he's an unknown," Canizares said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. "Being a good analyst is not the same as being a good coach. Valencia is not a team for experiments, it's not a place for a coach to get his apprenticeship.
"Three years ago the club gave a former player, Mauricio Pellegrino, his first proper coaching job. There were similarities with Neville, in fact, but it did not work out. So that's why there are doubts."
Canizares, who currently works as a pundit on TV and radio in Spain, has been a regular critic of the way the club has been run in recent years and the influence of owner Peter Lim.
Lim, who bought Valencia in July last year, also holds a 50 percent stake in English non-league side Salford City, which is co-owned by the Neville brothers, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.
Canizares added: "Lim has hired someone he knows, a friend who happens to have coaching badges. He has very good personal references, but what is he like as a coach? No one knows because he has no experience. It is one thing to give your opinion and another to get things working on the pitch."
He warned that Neville would have to learn the Spanish language quickly if he is to avoid the fate of David Moyes at Real Sociedad.
"The main difficulty he'll have is the language and getting to grips with Spanish football," he said. "Moyes didn't adapt to Spanish football, he didn't learn the language, didn't connect with the Sociedad players and couldn't transmit his philosophy. He was a disaster."
However, he said that Valencia -- currently ninth, five points behind fourth-placed Celta Vigo -- already have enough quality to achieve their aims this season.
"There is still a long way to go this season and Valencia are only five points behind fourth, so it's not difficult, especially because none of the teams above them have the squad that Valencia have," he said.
"If he can get Valencia to perform at even 80 percent of their potential they will achieve that objective, so it's all set up nicely for him."