Phil Neville deletes Twitter after controversy over old posts

New England women’s manager Phil Neville faces questions about jokes he posted on social media.

But those tweets are hardly the biggest reason Neville’s appointment – especially in the wake of how Sampson’s firing went down – suggests the people in charge at the FA don’t take their women’s program seriously at all.

Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out said Neville’s appointment “raises more questions than answers” and questioned whether he should be charged by the FA for posting discriminatory comments on social media.

Eurosport’s Carrie Dunn notes that the FA, during their search for an assistant manager, have noted that the person applying should have “a track record of consistent and successful experience of development of elite women’s players with a minimum of two years’ global senior team experience”.

Neville, who has worked as a coach at Manchester United, Valencia and the England Under-21s since retiring from playing, has made the move of closing his Twitter account.

Twins Tracey and Phil Neville, pictured with mother Jill, left, are England’s netball and women’s football head coaches, respectively.

In another in 2012, Neville – asked why women would not be watching cricket on television – responded by saying he thought they would be “busy preparing breakfast/getting kids ready/making beds”.

“Following on from the announcement, Kick It Out was also made aware of alleged historical social media posts from Neville, which appear to show him making misogynistic and sexist comments”.

‘I am now looking forward to the future and will work tirelessly to try and help bring success to the team’.

No sooner had the 41-year-old been confirmed in his job he immediately came under fire for a series of posts he made on his now deleted Twitter account. The championing of Neville does the game a continued disservice, confirming suspicions that nothing has changed and an amateurish approach still prevails.

“I am honored to be given the chance to lead England”.

We don’t know whether he is going to be the best manager or coach, but just to be able to sit in a room with him and talk to him about what he has done will surely be invaluable to the players.

Should, as expected, he remain at the helm then his first taste of action comes in the form of March’s SheBelieves Cup, where England face France, Germany and hosts United States, who like the Lionesses (third) now feature in the top-6 of the FIFA Rankings.

“If this was the men’s team, there’s no way on earth the FA would be appointing a head coach who had not either coached successfully in the Premier League or the Championship, or at an Italian, German or French club”, Vicki says.

After the controversy around Sampson, sacked after the detail of “inappropriate and unacceptable” behaviour (understood to involve relationships with female players) in a previous role became known, it must have been desperate to avoid further damaging public debate.