By Tim Parsons And Sammie Jones
A statement on Neville from Roisin Wood of Kick It Out read: ‘Kick It Out have serious concerns over a recruitment process that has resulted in the appointment of someone with no record of management or experience in women’s football
Neville’s position as manager of women’s football needs to be reviewed after recent tweets, combined with the fact he has no track record of football, let alone women’s football. The decision to appoint a manager with no football experience, shows the Football Association to be lacking greatly in judgement.
The Football Association have treated the women’s team recklessly by hiring a man with no football experience whatsoever. The seriousness of their ill judgement is highlighted when we remember that the British Women’s football is ranked number three in the world.
Neville himself sees his appointment and as a business project, set to boost his bank balance. He recently told Radio 5 Live that the job was the ‘right development path for me’. A man who sees a post as important and highly paid as this as just a development path is in the wrong job. The football association must surely appreciate this.
Boanas, 60 caps for England, was very gender-specific. ‘He’s never worked within the women’s game,’ she said. ‘It is different. We deal with emotional things, women have women’s problems, monthly problems, relationship problems.’ And that may be true. Anyone with experience of life knows that women and men face different challenges.
Phil Neville and the Football Association on Tuesday were urged to address the sexist tweets that have come back to haunt the new manager of England Women. Historical tweets posted in 2012 by the former England defender saw Neville face criticism on his first day in his new job at the Football Association.
“Morning men couple of hours cricket be4 work sets me up nicely for the day,” Neville wrote. Critics with an eye for statements that remotely
resemble prejudice or discrimination immediately took him up.
When asked why he only referred to men in his post, Neville replied: “When I said morning men I thought the women would have been busy preparing breakfast/getting kids ready/making the beds-sorry morning women!”Neville deleted the post on Tuesday and appeared to remove his Twitter account, @fizzer18, which was unavailable to users.
The Women’s Sport Trust charity has urged Neville, and the FA should waste no time in responding “appropriately” following his messages. It added: “We are also saddened by Phil Neville’s historical tweets and the lack of comment about this from the FA. In the age of MeToo and TimesUp, all individuals and organisations must be more aware of past sexist behaviour and respond to it appropriately.”
The women’s trust also questioned why the FA would turn to Neville in the first place. Neville holds the UEFA Pro Licence and has worked at Manchester United and Valencia, but Neville has some catching up to do in terms of his awareness and understanding of women’s football.
The Women’s trust said in a statement: “The Women’s Sport Trust is disappointed at the apparent lack of transparency and process in the appointment of Phil Neville as the new manager for the England women’s football team.
“Our national women’s team deserve the very best coach available to fulfil their enormous potential and inspire millions of men and women.
“To see a high profile, former professional footballer virtually parachuted into such a significant role in football without the level of experience required, undermines the coaching pathway and will be a blow to hundreds of football coaches, both male and female, currently working towards their badges at all levels.”
Neville replaces Mark Sampson, who was accused of racism by England striker Eni Aluko and fired for what the FA described as “inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour” in a previous role with Bristol Academy.
“To see a high profile, former professional footballer virtually parachuted into such a significant role in football without the level of experience required, undermines the coaching pathway and will be a blow to hundreds of football coaches, both male and female, currently working towards their badges at all levels.”