The FA Player recently streamed the World Cup Qualifier match against Kazakhstan whilst we are all at home waiting for a time when live football can resume. This match’s squad was led by the interim head coach Mo Marley, during another time of uncertainty and chaos after Mark Sampson’s sacking. This took place over allegations of safeguarding issues when he was at Bristol City as well as during the aftermath of Eni Aluko’s official complaint against him for racism and bullying. Throughout the match, the commentary could have been easily mistaken for one happening in the current situation (if matches were still being played). There were numerous discussions about who the new head coach appointment should be, and which factors should be the ones mostly taken into consideration during the selection process. What was mentioned time and time again was the fact that the candidate ultimately chosen should not be necessarily a woman, it should be the best person for the job. And then The Football Association appointed Phil Neville.
Many similarities can be drawn between the 2017 post-Euros debacle and the one taking place in 2020, amidst a global pandemic rather than a pre-Olympics build up. In both cases the news came with the last major tournament resulting in a semi-final disappointment against the eventual winners, Netherlands in the Euros and this time the USA in the World Cup. Phil Neville’s team has since had a dismal run of results, most notable are the losses against both Spain and the USA in the She Believes Cup in April and the last-minute loss against Germany at Wembley. An FA mess up is also centre to both of these departures, with the Mark Sampson sacking admittedly a lot more scandalous. This time round, the news of Phil Neville ending his stint as the England women’s team head coach was leaked by The Times two days before an official statement was released by The FA, plunging players and supporters alike into uncertainty. Phil Neville revealed in an interview that there were players who found out from the press, some even sent him farewell texts after believing that his contract was being terminated effective immediately. As it is, he still has 14 more months in office, until July 2021 and hence just before the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In the first instance, his contract should have run up until the end of the 2021 home Euros however, with the announcement of the postponement of both the Olympics and the Euros each by a year, the tournaments he is under contract to lead the Lionesses with have changed dramatically.
The atmosphere in which Phil Neville was appointed head coach should have served as forewarning for what was to come. Initially not on the short or long list of candidates for the job, he was announced amidst shock at his lack of former managerial positions in general, let alone his complete inexperience in the women’s game. The Guardian writer Barney Ronay recently tweeted that his appointment is “still one of the most underrated Extraordinarily Bad Decisions English football has made in the last few years.” This is exemplified by his controversial team managements decisions right from the very beginning, his statements to the press always confident that he had done the best he could even when facing such losses as the one in the semi-finals of the World Cup and the uncovering of tweets which mentioned domestic abuse and contained other sexist messages.
This last fact opens up a whole other kettle of fish, with the blatant hypocrisy of The FA when deciding on the threshold of what social media comments count as abuse and discrimination being central to the issue. One of the most notable comparisons to make is with that of Ruesha Littlejohn’s case which took place in 2012. A non-professional player for Liverpool ladies at the time, she was punished as if she were a professional by being given a 6 game ban (a third of the season’s matches) and a £500 fine for a comment that “included a reference to sexual orientation” when she herself has now actively participated in an AVIVA campaign as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Neville, on the other hand, an ex-Premiere League player who was about to take the most coveted post of the women’s game in England, was let off by an association that had known about his selection of tweets which included “Relax I’m back chilled – just battered the wife!!! Feel better now!” for over five years before appointing him. In fact, when The FA’s chief executive Martin Glenn finally did address the issue when it came to light after Neville’s appointment, he stated that “those comments would not meet the threshold for issuing a charge against any participants.”
After the scandals created by Sampson’s previous role at Bristol City, as well as rumors that some of the other candidates to be his successor dropped out partly because of the rigorous background checks The FA said they were going to run, Phil Neville emerged victorious not because he was the best, but because he had little to hide and The FA were willing to cover up his past ‘blunders’ rather than be left without a candidate to appoint. In other words, he was recruited partly because of his lack of experience. He got the job because he was one of only few candidates still available at the time of selection, and because he was a man.
Glenn stated at the time that two out of the four best candidates dropped out because of the rigorous background checks that would be applied, The FA however was still willing to cover up Neville’s own history of sexist comments as well as state that “his integrity and values came through strongly in his background checks and references.” He was treated with an immunity reserved for many professional men’s players, whilst female coaches who also faced pressure from background checks ultimately backed down.
The decision for his appointment has also been associated with it creating good PR. As an ex-professional footballer, he had large platform to begin with, and his appointment brought exposure over fans from the men’s game who wanted to follow his career. This was all a great incentive for The FA to artificially find a way to grow the fanbase and interest around the women’s game.
Moreover, the late withdrawal of Mo Marely, an extremely accomplished candidate who did not have reason to fear the wrath of background checks, gave rise to the idea that she did not receive enough support from those of high rankings within The FA. Neville, on the other hand, received and has continued to receive unwavering encouragement by those in the corridors of power. Reports revealed that he allegedly did not apply for the job until he was approached by the Football Association to do so. Since then he has been backed by the likes of the director of women’s football Sue Campbell every step of the way, despite his team’s very questionable form since the World Cup. An appointment which seemed very ‘box office’ in nature, would dubiously have happened if it had been a woman who a broadcaster had casually mentioned in passing.
We do not need someone whose personality will serve as a path for PR growth, we need someone who will create play and bring results that will organically motivate people to become more invested. We do not need someone who has been supported by the corridors of power within The FA, we need someone who will help the team flourish despite the shortcomings of the Association. Someone who will be picked not because of favourability and name recognition but because of managerial experience, particularly within the woman’s game.
Football is a universal language, but women’s football has its own nuances that cannot be overlooked. An understanding of these is necessary to be a successful coach of a women’s team and generally it is female coaches who, through personal experience or though close contact of such, have the best grasp of this. From issues as universal as the impact of periods on players’ performances, to paying more attention to the prevention of ACL injuries, and to creating closer rapports with the players. All the pioneers in the individual aspects which have recently enhanced the women’s game have been led by women. Emma Haye’s Chelsea have recently become the first football club to tailor their trainings around the players’ menstrual cycles, the results of which are already paying off this season seen by their Continental Cup win and their second position placement in the league with a game in hand. Jill Ellis won two World Cups with the US. A lot of this success has been attributed to her work with high performance coach Dawn Scott which saw the introduction of a period tracker app as well as all round focus on physical recovery and the mental side on top of game performance. In general, the success of female coaches over male ones can be seen by the fact that of the five World Cups, five Euros and five Olympics disputed since 2000, all but one have been won by a team with a female coach in charge.
Phil Neville has proven to be the exact opposite of this. His initial branding as a fresh start has proven to completely unsuccessful, even his wife has admitted that he “didn’t know anything about women’s football” at the beginning. His recent string of loses have been the obvious example of this but, even during the World Cup, in all but the quarterfinal against Norway the Lionesses’ performances were viewed by many as being subpar. It is true that not many teams can boast of reaching the semi-finals of the arguably most competitive Women’s World Cup to date. However, considering the investment put into the team compared to other nations and England’s previous track record in such competitions, the result wasn’t fully seen as an achievement, it was an expectation.
Of course the best candidate must be chosen but, bar a few very specific cases, that best candidate will be a woman. However, if another Phil Neville is chosen, it will not be because he was the best choice, but rather because he is a man and the most beneficial person for The FA to put in charge. It is this happening once again which needs to be prevented.
The names being thrown into the hat now are similar to the ones that were mentioned last time, former Utah Royals coach and current US youth coach Laura Harvey; former Man City coach and current assistant coach in the MLS; Chelsea coach Emma Hayes; and previous interim coach currently managing the U-21 Lionesses Mo Marley, amongst others. New names also being mentioned include English-born Jill Ellis is a popular candidate in some circles, the US National Team’s coach who stepped down last autumn after over four years in charge and many trophies under her belt; as well as Casey Stoney, who was part of Neville’s background staff before taking on the job as the newly formed Manchester United coach. There have also been a few nods towards Mark Parsons and Paul Riley, both English coaches who have been very successful managing their current NWSL teams. Another candidate which has not been mentioned much but who could also be seen as a contender is Jo Potter. Currently playing at Reading, her contract is supposedly set to finish at the end of the season. Not only is she an extremely experienced player who was on the senior national team for many years and knows many of the players very well, but she already has managerial experience since she is currently balancing her professional job as a Reading player in the WSL with being head coach of Coventry United Women who play in the Championship. She may not tick the necessary boxes for the job just yet but she will be another candidate to add to the list in years to come.