Neville: England nearing legacy moment
Head coach embraces side’s inspiring qualities Beckham, Wright and Grainger motivate team
David Beckham stood in England’s team hotel before their World Cup quarter-final against Norway and told them how much they had inspired his seven-year-old daughter, Harper, who was alongside him.
A few hours before kick-off, the players were shown a video message from five-time Olympic rowing medallist Dame Katherine Grainger that gave them “goosebumps”. And then Ian Wright arrived, cracking jokes in the meal room before the squad headed to the Stade Oceane here.
To top it all, beyond the emphatic 3-0 victory, the BBC announced a record peak television audience of 7.6million – 38.6 per cent share – had watched it. Afterwards, the Duke of Cambridge, president of the Football Association, led the congratulations. In a message from the Kensington Palace Twitter account, he wrote: “What a performance @Lionesses, a superb display! The whole country is behind you going into Tuesday’s semifinal, bring it on! W.”
Little wonder Phil Neville, the England head coach, later hailed the evening as an important step towards the “legacy moment” for women’s football. “We had a camp in May 2018 and set out the objectives for the next 12 months,” he explained.
“All I wanted them to say was, ‘Win the World Cup’, and it was actually [defender] Leah Williamson who said: ‘We want more – we want to inspire, to build a legacy. We want the Lionesses to have a name that people around the world would relate to.’ They are ‘badass women’, that was our mantra.”
The arrival of Neville’s former England and Manchester United team-mate Beckham was well judged, especially as he had his daughter – wearing an England shirt – with him and, although inevitably the TV cameras panned to him in the stadium after each goal as he high-fived Baroness Campbell, the FA’S head of women’s football, he did not dominate. “Katherine Grainger sent a video message that we played in my pre-match meeting that gives you goosebumps,” Neville said. “She told them about what it takes to win, about playing with your hearts and your head. So, I didn’t need to do that much before the game.
“Then we went downstairs and David and Harper were introduced to the team. That gave them a sense of how special the performances have been. And then to top it all off, Ian Wright was in reception, so I took him into the meal room and he started cracking jokes and laughing and joking with them. So, we were actually so relaxed before the game.
“People can say sometimes, ‘That’s a bit risky, you’re taking your eyes off the game’. But my players loved it. They loved the message from Katherine, because I think they could relate to a female Olympian that’s broken down barriers and made sacrifices.
“Then the icon [Beckham] that has been supporting me and the Lionesses from day one. He’s got great humility, he spoke fantastically to the team, and it was great he could bring his daughter. And then Ian Wright came in and knew every single player’s name, by their nick