Phil Neville wants England Women stars to emulate Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United greats
The Lionesses face Wales in their fourth World Cup qualifier in Friday, with a crowd of more than 25,000 expected in Southampton
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Phil Neville has told his England Women stars they must show the same desire for success as Manchester United’s great teams of the Sir Alex Ferguson era.
The Lionesses face Wales in their fourth World Cup qualifier in Friday, with a crowd of more than 25,000 expected in Southampton, and global domination is Neville’s target for the team.
England sit second in the Fifa rankings, behind the United States, and the international break has come at a time when many of Neville’s players are chasing major trophies with their clubs.
The Women’s Super League title battle is shaping up for a tense finish, and FA Cup semi-finals take place on 15 April. Chelsea Ladies and Manchester City Women are among those pursuing the domestic titles, and both also have Champions League semi-finals before the end of the month.
Hectic ends to seasons were the norm for Neville during his trophy-rich Red Devils career.
“If you want to be a top, top player you’ve got to be able to play Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday for your club, and then go away with England and produce it at the top level,” Neville said.
“When you come to March and April you want to be finishing an international game on the Tuesday against Bosnia and going into a big semi-final on the Sunday: Chelsea versus City, Arsenal against Everton.
“And if anyone doesn’t want that, then please you shouldn’t be playing for England, because I want players with the top mentality who say, ‘I’m going to go out there and train every day and I’m going to play in these big games and have the robustness and toughness’.
“That’s what I learnt playing at Manchester United where it didn’t matter how many games we had, because at the start of every season we used to say that when we get to March and April we want to be in the FA Cup semi-final, we want to be in the Champions League, we want to be going for the league title.
“So once you get here please don’t start moaning about being in these competitions. I told the players, ‘Congratulations, this is exactly where you want to be: big games every three days, on television, big crowds, big occasions against the best in the world. This is why you wanted to become a professional footballer, this is why you want to play for England, because you’re the best at what you do.’
“I say, ‘Bring it on!’.”
After three wins out of three in World Cup qualifying under previous managers, Neville is relishing the Wales game, his home debut as boss which will be followed on Tuesday by an away clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Two wins would take England ever closer to next year’s finals in France.
“I keep saying that we want to win a World Cup,” Neville said. “But first things first, and we’ve got to get there by being six points better off next Tuesday than we are now.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments