A women’s football club in Salford have reluctantly given their collective thumbs up to the appointment of Phil Neville as the new England Ladies manager, after sexist tweets were found on Neville’s Twitter account and his lack of experience being called into question.
The FA’s decision to appoint Neville as the new England Ladies manager has been a controversial and surprising one to say the least. After the sacking of former manager, Mark Sampson, for “inappropriate and unacceptable” behaviour with female players in 2014, you would think the FA would do all they could to avoid any more controversy of this manner with the new manager. The controversy surrounding Neville is his lack of experience within the women’s game and his sexist tweets from six years ago. Since his appointment, Neville has come out and publicly apologised for these tweets.
The manager of FC United Women had a different opinion to Westbury Sports Club FC, Luke said, “The tweets are disappointing but they are in jest and should not impact his appointment. The most disappointing thing, for me, is he is not qualified enough. To have never managed before and start with a national team, which is one of the most progressive women’s national teams at the moment. It is highly doubtful he has any knowledge of the players, system and upcoming female players. The FA stated it wanted someone with significant experience at the elite level and this is not the case.”
Westbury Sports FC Ladies player, Ashleigh Morris, added “Good appointment if he brings the right people in with him. He’s got no experience in women’s football but will have experience other coaches may not have with winning all he has won at the top level.
The general feeling is it should not have happened but it has. It is nothing against him personally just that he does not meet the criteria. Now it is time to get over the hysteria and give him a chance.
— Helen Summers (@HelenRW11) January 30, 2018
Baroness Sue Campbell has defended the appointment of Neville. Campbell says “Background checks were made but the posts in question were not revealed at the time.” Former England player, Sue Smith, who was capped 93 times for her country also insists that Neville deserves a chance in the role.
In many people’s eyes, the main candidate for the role was the interim manager, Mo Marley. Below is a twitter moment focusing on whether Neville was the best candidate was for the job.
Was Phil Neville’s appointment the right decision?
Salford based football club, Westbury Sports FC Ladies, for their opinion on the recent controversy. Team manager, Dean O’Brien says “It is a belting appointment. He has the experience needed to take them further. His tweets were tongue in cheek and not meant as they have been taken. FA qualifications are a joke, too many people are over qualified yet still unable to do the job asked of them.”
Phil Neville will take charge of the Lionesses for the first time in the SheBelieves Cup on Thursday 1st March against France. This testing tie will give everyone a good indication as to whether he was the right person for the job.
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