Neville May Cry

If it seemed like Ryan Giggs had a tough reception when he was appointed Wales manager, it was nothing compared to the grief his Class of ’92 colleague Phil Neville has just experienced.

- Catherine Etoe

Having come like a bolt out of the blue as the shock hot tip for the vacant England women’s manager job in early January, Neville was unveiled by the FA on January 23 – and both were instantly under the cosh.

“Phil has never been a number one anywhere else before,” spluttered Danny Mills on Radio 5 Live. “He’s now going into a team that’s third in the world. How can he just jump above everybody else?” Mills’ was not a lone voice: fans, football writers and some sports charities also wanted to know how the 41-year-old could take on the top-ranked team in Europe without having ever worked in the women’s game and with barely a trace of managerial experience. “This feels like a kick in the teeth to the team,” the charity Women in Sport said in a statement.