New England women’s soccer coach Phil Neville deletes Twitter account in ‘sexist’ row
Former Manchester United star has yet to confirm or deny if he sent the contentious messages on social media
No sooner had Phil Neville been appointed the new head coach of the England women’s soccer team on Tuesday than he found himself facing criticism for “sexist” tweets.
A message from Neville’s long-standing Twitter handle @fizzer18 on December 3, 2012, said: “U women of [sic] always wanted equality until it comes to paying the bills #hypocrites”.
Another that same year had the former Manchester United, Everton and England defender appearing to say: “Morning men couple of hours cricket be4 [before] work sets me up nicely for the day”.
Asked why he had only referred to men in his message, a reply on the account of Neville – an ex-England schoolboy cricketer – said: “When I said morning men I thought the women would of [sic] been busy preparing breakfast/getting kids ready/making the beds-sorry morning women!”
Neville, who has yet to confirm or deny if he sent the contentious messages, appeared to have deleted his Twitter account on Tuesday.
The old posts came to light again barely hours after Neville was appointed by the Football Association on a contract that will run until the end of the 2021 Uefa Women’s Championships.
