Phil Neville is a man on a mission
Watching Neville busily take training ahead of the first match of his reign against France in the SheBelieves Cup on Thursday, it was clear this is a driven man.
It was just a water bottle. One errant water bottle left on the training pitch at Ohio State University at the end of Phil Neville’s first training session as the new England women’s manager.
There are worse crimes, yet for the 41-year-old, it was simply not good enough. Alex Ferguson wouldn’t have stood for it at Manchester United. And neither will Neville.
The miscreant was hauled off the team bus to correct the error of her ways and, in an instant, the impeccably high standards their new coach is striving for were laid bare for everyone to see.
”I’ve tried to raise the bar in terms of every facet of performance and so far what I’ve seen is, is that they have risen to every challenge that I’ve set them apart from leaving a water bottle on the training pitch which I wasn’t happy about,” admitted Neville.
“Doing that is unheard of so we talked about the standards that I want from them as a team, the kind of thing which was instilled into me from my parents, from the managers that I played for. “The little things matter. They are on top of time-keeping but I’m a stickler for standards. We’re going to be all in it together from the kit man to the security to the media. Then we all share it together.
“Leaving the kit man to pick up a bottle of water is, for me, as big a crime as giving the ball away. I have been really surprised by the standards they have set themselves and how they have policed themselves – which is even more important.”
Watching Neville busily take training ahead of the first match of his reign against France in the SheBelieves Cup on Thursday afternoon here, it was clear this is a driven man on a mission.
He’s hands-on, urging his charges to pass and move. To be brave in possession. An attacking style is being cultivated but attention to detail, on and off the pitch, is vital.
“They get it,” he added. ”They know full well. And do you know what? They want me to pull them on things like that.”
For all the negativity surrounding his appointment, his depth of experience on the playing side simply cannot be discounted.
Neville brings a wealth of knowledge and knowhow – something former manager Mark Sampson simply didn’t have – even if some of the younger players in the squad have been forced to resort to Youtube to unearth some of their manager’s greatest footballing hits.
“They have been asking us what he was like as a player and whether he was any good, “smiled Lucy Bronze, the Lyon right-back who will captain her country for the first time in Columbus in place of the injured Steph Houghton.
“Was he better than Gary tends to be the question. He’ll be getting a few more hits on YouTube at the moment.”
Bronze, however, has fully taken on board the meticulous nature of Neville’s approach. “He was very professional with the standards he brought from Manchester United,” she added.
“He was very firm and he set down his rules straight away and if you don’t like it, tough. That’s what we need if we are going to win the tournament next year and the girls have embraced it. We will do everything we need to do to win and we think Phil can lead us to that final.”
Taking on the French as well as Germany and the United States here will give Neville and his coaching staff a rapid idea of just how feasible the idea of winning the World Cup next summer actually is. Certainly in the case of Bronze, who last summer became the first English player to join Lyon, the four time Champions League winners, moving abroad to better her career can only help herself, and her country, moving forward.
“The English league, although it’s one of the better leagues, it’s more physical,” said the former Manchester City right-back, a key member of the England setups which reached the last four of the two previous World Cup and European Championships.
“The French league is more technical. Which is good, because that is what I went there for. I wanted to get better technically. I think I’ve got a bit more composure on the ball. I play with some of the best players in the world every day so I should be getting better. It’s a challenge every day, I have to push myself every single day just to hold my own technically.
”I certainly know from playing in Lyon with all the different nationalities that people are little bit scared of playing England now. That’s different. In the past, I wouldn’t say we were a joke as such, but people disregarded us a bit.
“They didn’t have a huge amount of respect for us as a football team. They knew we would be physical, we still are, but they didn’t think we could play football. Now, they’re aware we have more angles to our game. We aren’t just here to make up the numbers.”