Some of Phil Neville’s old tweets have emerged following his appointment as manager of the England women’s football team.
Neville was appointed as the team’s coach on Tuesday after signing a three-year deal, it is the 41-year-old’s first managerial role. The former Manchester United and Everton defender was previously a first-team coach under David Moyes at Old Trafford and assistant to his brother Gary at Valencia for a brief spell.
However, Neville’s reign hasn’t got off to the best start. Within hours of his confirmation as manager, screenshots of old tweets he had posted were circulating on Twitter, and he had deleted his account. Whether Neville deleted his Twitter account because of the emergence of these tweets is unclear, it’s possible he is preparing to set up a new one to reflect his new position.
However, three of his old tweets, from 2011 and 2012, have been widely condemned. Here is the first one which emerged on Tuesday evening:
And here are the other tweets:
Other than expressing his delight to be appointed England manager, Neville has yet to make a statement and has not commented on the old tweets.
Here are the tweets that have got Phil Neville’s tenure as England women’s manager off to a controversial start (has now deleted his account). Might want to hold a press conference & address them, their relevance to doing the job, & his lack of managerial experience, fast. pic.twitter.com/bXrDViWBTW
— Dan Roan (@danroan) January 24, 2018
According to The Guardian, he is currently in La Manga in Spain, where the England squad are taking part in a winter training camp.