England World Cup squad: Phil Neville learns from his own painful memories to deliver the good - and bad - news
The England Women’s manager knows first hand what it feels like to miss out on a World Cup squad, which is why he allowed the players to choose how they would discover their France 2019 fate
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Your support makes all the difference.Most football teams just have to focus on winning matches, for England women that is part of a bigger picture. Their job is to inspire one gender, and gain acceptance from the other.
First they have to be noticed. Thus yesterday’s innovative launch of this summer’s Women's World Cup squad with A-list celebrities such as Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, David Beckham, Emma Watson and James Corden, plus a clutch of well-known figures from the music industry, announcing the squad for France on social media – and thus alerting their followers to the finals.
Their manager, Phil Neville, admitted at Wembley yesterday that having come from the winning-is-everything environment of the men’s game he has had to compromise. He has now bought into the need for his players to be visible, whether that means signing autographs after games before jumping into recovery ice-baths, or interrupting routines for schools visits.
Neville mentioned he believed this was “a special period for women’s football” noting that such personalities keen to become involved in the launch underlined the growing respect there was for the sport. However, while it could be on the cusp of something big the Women’s Super League still attracts smaller gates than the National League. There is some way to go to penetrate the national consciousness.
Winning the World Cup would attract more attention than any number of social media campaigns and Neville has made it clear this is his expectation. While relatively new to management he has already harnessed his experience of playing in tournaments – and not playing in them.
Having been left out of three World Cup squads as a player (and selected for three Euros) Neville anguished over how to tell the unlucky ones. Neville’s first exclusion, at the age of 21 by Glenn Hoddle in La Manga in 1998, was overshadowed by Paul Gascoigne’s famous tantrum when he smashed a table lamp while Kenny G played in the background. Gary Neville later described the process as ‘brutal’ but years later Phil had more sympathy.
“It affected me for six months. I thought everything about the process was wrong, but as you get older you think ‘there is no right way to tell a player they are not going to the World Cup’. I thought long and hard about how to do it and the best thing was to ask the players.”
At their request they were told by email at 8am (which meant an especially sleepless night for the US-based contenders). Neville intimated he would have preferred to break bad news personally, but he did speak to the players later. By then the omitted ones had time to recover their composure and, to a woman, they wished the squad luck. As in La Manga Neville had by Hoddle’s account literally been unable to talk after being told, and by brother Gary’s account was inconsolable and in tears, maybe this was the best way.
The squad itself had few surprises. The main issue was whether Izzy Christiansen’s recovery from the broken leg suffered playing for England in the US in March had progressed sufficiently for her to be included. Neville said it had, but he was not picking her anyway because others had seized their chance (notably Birmingham’s Lucy Staniforth and Jade Moore, of Reading).
“Izzy was disappointed, devastated,” said Neville of the 27-year-old Lyon midfielder. “I don't think I have ever seen a player work so hard as she has to try and get fit for a World Cup. She’s done everything we’ve asked of her. She’s virtually lived at [England HQ] St George’s Park this past eight weeks. It was just a performance decision.”
Karen Carney and Jill Scott will join Sir Bobby Charlton as the only players to go to four World Cups. “It is a fantastic achievement,” said Neville, “and they are there on merit, not just because they are experienced.” They are, though, rookies compared to Brazil’s Formiga who, at 41, will play in her seventh finals having only missed the first one in 1991.
Picking the starting XI will be more difficult for Neville than selecting the squad. He suggested he would favour experience in the opening game, against Scotland in Nice on June 9, but would subsequently adapt the team making five-six changes each game to keep the players fresh. Lucy Bronze, he indicated, would continue to play both right-back and central midfield, as the occasion dictated.
Neville was confident his players would not be inhibited by the possibilities, for themselves and their sport, victory would bring. “When some of these players began their careers they did not have enough balls for training, or a pitch, or coach. This is what they have dreamt of all their lives. This is where we want to be. When we get to Nice we are going to enjoy it.”
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