Amid pushback from fans, Portland Timbers hire Phil Neville as head coach

Phil Neville

The Portland Timbers announced the hiring of former Inter Miami and England women's national team coach Phil Neville on Monday. The move received backlash from fans, with the Timbers Army previously calling on the club to reconsider due to Neville's sexist Twitter posts which he has apologized for.Getty Images

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The Portland Timbers announced the hiring of Phil Neville as the club’s next head coach on Monday, welcoming a big name and fresh face to lead Portland into the future, but doing so amid persistent controversy.

Neville’s contract runs through the 2026 season. He will be introduced to the media at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Providence Park.

“We are thrilled to welcome Phil Neville as the new head coach of the Portland Timbers, and we look forward to making Phil and his family feel at home in Portland,” Timbers general manager Ned Grabavoy said in a release. “Phil’s character makes him the right person to lead this team forward as we continue to reshape the group with a goal of returning to sustained success. His leadership qualities, diverse experience as a coach, and ambition to evolve made him a terrific fit here with us in Portland.”

Neville, 46, comes to Portland after being fired by Inter Miami partway through the 2023 season, and previously coaching the England women’s national team. Neville had a record of 31-41-11 in just under three seasons at Inter Miami, and made it as far as the third-place game in the 2019 World Cup at the helm of the England women’s team.

Born in Bury, England, Neville played nearly two decades of professional soccer in the Premier League, primarily as a fullback. Neville spent 11 seasons with Manchester United, playing alongside the likes of David Beckham, before finishing off his career with eight seasons at Everton.

“I am massively excited about the challenge ahead, and from the very first moment I met the staff I knew it was the right opportunity for me, the right club for me and the right city for me,” Neville said in the release. “The fans are the most important part of this football club with their intensity and support, and I think this journey is going to be something special. I have great memories visiting Portland, which reminds me of Manchester, my hometown, and I can’t wait for my family to get to know this beautiful city.”

Prior to being hired by the English FA to lead the women’s side in 2018, Neville received criticism for sexist Tweets posted in 2012 — when Neville was in his mid-30s. Those posts included jokes about women being too “busy making breakfast/getting kids ready/making the beds” to read his tweets, that women “always wanted equality until it comes to paying the bills,” and that he “just battered the wife.”

Neville eventually apologized for the posts, calling them “wrong then and wrong now.”

Addressing the Tweets and Neville’s track record as a coach, the 107 Independent Supporters Trust and Timbers Army called for the club to reconsider the hire when the news leaked to the media on Friday. The fan groups have previously been critical of the club’s mishandling of alleged incidents of sexual misconduct and domestic violence.

“We are deeply disappointed that the club has reportedly settled on a finalist for head coach who has a history of sexist public statements that run counter to our ethos as a club, city and supporters’ group, and who also lacks a proven track record as a manager,” the 107IST/Timbers Army statement reads.

A source told The Oregonian/OregonLive that some internal staff at the Timbers are wary of Neville’s hire, concerned about what they’ve heard regarding the experiences of technical and performance staff when Neville was at Inter Miami. The mood among some Timbers staff members was also described as “frustrated” that the club pushed forward with the hire despite public outcry.

Neville is just the fourth full-time head coach since the Timbers joined MLS in 2011, a list that includes John Spencer, Caleb Porter, and most recently Giovanni Savarese. Under Neville’s leadership in the coaching box, this offseason is expected to be a busy one for the Timbers with several departures and the arrival of new faces on the field.

The Athletic previously reported that former interim Timbers coach Miles Joseph is in talks to join Neville’s staff as an assistant, as is Jason Kreis — Neville’s former assistant in Miami.

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