Phil Neville said being dropped by England three times on the eve of a tournament showed him “there is no right way to tell a player they are not going to the World Cup”.
The Lyon midfielder Izzy Christiansen, who has failed to recover from an ankle injury, was the highest-profile absentee from Neville’s France 2019 squad announced on Wednesday by celebrities including Emma Watson, Raheem Sterling, David Beckham and Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
Neville, who played in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 European Championships but was never selected for a World Cup, admitted he had tried to make the process as free of stress as possible.
“The first time was in 1998,” he said. “We had to go to the manager’s room. He told us we weren’t in the squad and then we had to leave half an hour later. Then, there was a personal one, another was a phone call. So there’s three different ways.
“After France 98, I’ve got to say it affected me for six months. I thought everything about the process was wrong. But as you get a little bit older you think: ‘You know what? There’s no right way to tell a player they are not going to the World Cup’.”
Neville asked the Lionesses how they would like to be told. They came up with a formula he “didn’t necessarily agree with but it worked.” The players were “emailed at eight o’clock, then there was a phone call later in the day for those who wanted one,” he said. In addition to the 23 in the squad, 13 got emails telling them they had not made the cut.
“My proudest moment was the reaction of those who weren’t in the squad,” Neville said. “We spoke to them and the conversations were about how they want us to go to the World Cup and win it. I’m not an emotional person but those conversations made me emotional.”
Christiansen, who is in training for the first time following ankle surgery having picked up an injury at the SheBelieves Cup, was particularly unlucky to miss out.
“She was disappointed, she was devastated,” Neville said. “She’s done everything we’ve asked of her. She’s virtually lived at St George’s Park for the last eight weeks. She’s sacrificed everything in her life to get to this point. She would have been fit to go but the selection for Izzy is based purely on the performance of other players who have taken their opportunities in midfield.“
Alongside the experience of Jill Scott and Karen Carney, who will be the first England players since Bobby Charlton to play in four World Cups, there are a host of players who will be at their first and Neville has rotated to ensure they have caps before they head to France.
“We’ve got some talented young players coming through. I’ve not been shy from day one to bring the young players through. They’re good enough. I’ve got Mo Marley ringing me every single day about the under-21 talent coming through and they will be drip fed into the squad after the World Cup.
“You guys might think I’ve changed things a lot but I’ve had to make sure these players, Keira Walsh, Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, got to a World Cup with closer to 10 caps than zero.
“In the Spain game, Georgia Stanway came of age, Leah Williamson proved she could go to a World Cup and be a starter. Beth Mead, from what we’ve seen in the last two months, has been the fastest growing improver in the squad. She’s gone from fighting for a place in the squad to fighting for a place in the starting XI with her performances.”
Why are young players so confident? “It’s the environment they grow up in,” said Neville. “When you go into clubs now and you see the facilities and academies, they are given a lot in terms of coaching, psychological help, tactical, technical. “Everything is there now to help them perform on the field so now you’re getting a more confident younger player. If you speak to a Jill Scott or Karen Carney, the journeys they have been on are very different to the journeys my younger players have been on. The sacrifices, no balls, no bibs, no pitches, being treated badly. The young players now haven’t had to experience that.”
Before the Lionesses’ final friendlies against Denmark in Walsall and New Zealand at Brighton there is the final round of Women’s Super League matches this weekend, and the Champions League final on the 18 May.
“I won’t enjoy it. I’m not going to any game this weekend, because I don’t want to see anything,” Neville said. “Every time a player goes down you think: ‘She’s out of the World Cup.’ So I’ll just turn the telly off and hope everyone gets through. I don’t want anyone injured.”
#BeReady pic.twitter.com/urP1msBpzk
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) May 7, 2019
23-woman squad for World Cup in France
Goalkeepers Karen Bardsley (Manchester City), Mary Earps (Wolfsburg), Carly Telford (Chelsea)
Defenders Millie Bright (Chelsea), Lucy Bronze (Lyon), Rachel Daly (Houston Dash), Alex Greenwood (Manchester United), Steph Houghton (Manchester City), Abbie McManus (Manchester City), Demi Stokes (Manchester City), Leah Williamson (Arsenal)
Midfielders Karen Carney (Chelsea), Jade Moore (Reading), Jill Scott (Manchester City), Lucy Staniforth (Birmingham City), Georgia Stanway (Manchester City), Keira Walsh (Manchester City)
Forwards Toni Duggan (Barcelona), Fran Kirby (Chelsea), Beth Mead (Arsenal), Nikita Parris (Manchester City), Jodie Taylor (Seattle Reign), Ellen White (Birmingham City) -
