MX23RW : Wednesday, May 29 07:46:55| >> :600:1243891:1243891:

Phil Neville declares interest in staying on for another World Cup

Phil Neville declares interest in staying on for another World Cup
© Reuters
The manager is under contract until 2021.

Phil Neville says it would be a "dream" to manage England at the next Women's World Cup.

Neville guided the Lionesses to the semi-finals of this summer's edition in France, with the team subsequently finishing fourth.

The 42-year-old, who was appointed as boss in January 2018, is on a contract that runs through to the Euro 2021 finals, which will be hosted by England.

Phil Neville wants to lead England into the next Women's World Cup
Phil Neville wants to lead England into the next Women's World Cup (Nigel French/PA).

He is also set to be in charge of Great Britain's team at next summer's Tokyo Olympics.

Neville stressed as the campaign in France came to an end that he had every intention of seeing out the remaining two years of his contract.

And, speaking on Tuesday as he announced his first squad since the tournament for the forthcoming friendlies against Belgium and Norway, he said: "I've got to say what I experienced in the summer, coaching hasn't given me that kind of feeling (before).

"So to go to the 2023 World Cup would be another dream. The summer gave me everything and more of what I wanted in my coaching career.

"I think players need to be excited, challenged. I've got to make sure that after the Euros my players are still listening to my messages, that they're still challenged by me, and the FA have to look at me and say, 'Am I the right person to take this team forward?' It's a two way thing.

"My contract is up until 2021. At this moment in time the FA are happy with the job I'm doing and I've fallen in love with the job that I'm doing. So I see no reason why it can't continue.

"As long as I'm getting the backing and support from the organisation that they are giving me now, and as long as I can see the direction that women's football is going in terms of the ambition, then I will be absolutely delighted to continue in this role."

Phil Neville said his side were devastated by their World Cup loss to the United States
Phil Neville said his side were devastated by their World Cup loss to the United States (John Walton/PA).

Neville has emphasised the hunger there is for success after England's pain of missing out on a first Women's World Cup final with the 2-1 last-four defeat to eventual champions the United States last month.

"I've not had a holiday. We now want to win Euro 2021, that's my goal, and ultimately I don't want to rest until we bring success," he said.

"We sent a form out to the players, a debrief form. We wanted them to fill it in and not one of them could even look at it, they were that hurt. They said, 'We can't revisit it, we're disappointed'.

"The picture I've got in my office is of Jill (Scott), Lucy (Bronze), Steph (Houghton) on the floor in Lyon in the America game. That was our moment and we just fell a little bit short. We had the best 51 days of our lives, but we wanted it to be 52. So that is now the ambition.

Phil Neville and his team received a standing ovation on Centre Court at Wimbledon
Phil Neville and his team received a standing ovation on Centre Court at Wimbledon (Mike Egerton/PA).

"We got so close. I've watched the America game back 15 times and there were moments when we were so close, we had them. But there were other moments when their game management, their experience, their know-how of winning major tournaments was better than ours.

"Well done. Congratulations. (US boss) Jill Ellis should win manager of the year. But we are fast developing."

He added: "We came back from the World Cup and we went to Wimbledon in a real angry, frustrated frame of mind, but we got a standing ovation on Centre Court.

"That was a realisation of actually we did probably achieve something – but it's not what we wanted to achieve."

Nineteen of the 23-player squad Neville had in France are in the 24-strong party selected for the matches against Belgium in Leuven a week on Thursday and Norway in Bergen five days later.

Striker Ellen White and goalkeeper Karen Bardsley miss out through injury, their Manchester City team-mate Scott has been rested and fellow midfielder Karen Carney has retired.

City goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck is in after training with the squad in France, and four players have received their first senior call-ups – Chelsea forward Bethany England, City defender Aoife Mannion, and goalkeeper Sandy MacIver and defender Anna Patten, who play for Clemson University and the University of South Carolina respectively.

ID:368712: cacheID:368712:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:10548:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Cameroon's Ajara Nchout reacts after their first goal was disallowed following a VAR review against England
Read Next:
FIFA reveals VAR was used 10 times per game at Women's World Cup
>
Read more about Phil Neville Football
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
CManchester CityMan City38287396346291
2Arsenal38285591296289
3Liverpool382410486414582
4Aston Villa382081076611568
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs382061274611366
6Chelsea381891177631463
7Newcastle UnitedNewcastle381861485622360
8Manchester UnitedMan Utd38186145758-160
9West Ham UnitedWest Ham381410146074-1452
10Crystal Palace381310155758-149
11Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton381212145562-748
12Bournemouth38139165467-1348
13Fulham38138175561-647
14Wolverhampton WanderersWolves38137185065-1546
15Everton38139164051-1140
16Brentford38109195665-939
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3899204967-1832
RLuton TownLuton3868245285-3326
RBurnley3859244178-3724
RSheffield UnitedSheff Utd38372835104-6916


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!