Show respect and work hard

Neville speaks a lot about what he sees as basic elements of success as a footballer.

“The basics are controlling the ball. Passing the ball up against the wall is one of the basic things that we used to do: passing, technical things, working as hard as you possibly can, being as fit as you possibly can.

“The most important one is your discipline: showing up on time. Wearing the clothes that you’re told to wear. If your coach wants you to wear the club tracksuit, wear the club tracksuit. You’re not allowed to wear a cap? Don’t wear a cap. You’ve got to wear white trainers? Wear white trainers. Say please and thank you. You think about the way that you bring your child up: please and thank you are fundamental. Show respect to people that are doing things for you and then work your absolute hardest every single day.

“We had this little saying at Man United: if the coach asked you to do ten reps, do 12 - always plus two. Two more reps. Two more reps. We finished every session with a run at Man United. The coach would say, ‘Look, we’re going to do six of these.’ We would always end up doing seven or eight because it would mean that you were thinking about working harder than everybody else. It’d mean that you were always pushing yourself beyond your limits.”

The real essential, though, as far as Neville is concerned, is fun.

“You’ve got to have fun. The last thing Sir Alex would say to us before going onto a football pitch was: ‘Go out and enjoy it. Go out and have fun. Pretend that you’re on the playground playing with your best mates and you’re having fun.’ Every single day at Man United, there was an element of fun. As a player, I had fun every single day. As a coach, I try and integrate an element of fun because we’re under pressure, we’ve got expectation, we’re all trying to compete with one another.

“If you get out of bed every single day and you are going into an environment where you are going to have fun, you are going to do those basics even better.”

‘The greatest players I’ve ever managed’

Neville’s own coaching path has been unusual, to say the least. After gaining his badges early on, towards the end of his playing career he also spent time assisting England men’s youth teams. He spent some time coaching at Manchester United, and co-managed Salford City for a single match with old pal Paul Scholes. He then spent time in Spain with Valencia, first as assistant to Nuno Espirito Santo and then Voro before the brief tenure of brother Gary Neville.

His first role as a head coach came when he took over the England women’s senior national team in 2018. He led the Lionesses for three years, an experience he describes as “the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life professionally”, taking them to fourth place in the 2019 Women’s World Cup, and praising the players he worked with during that time.

“They taught me more about management than any male footballer: the way you communicate, the way you talk, the way you behave, the key details in coaching, because they wanted to know every single detail, they wanted to know every single scenario, they wanted to know everything, and it stretched my managerial brain to a level than no male footballer has ever stretched it!

“It was the most rewarding three years of my career, and I still think those players are the greatest players that I’ve ever managed.”

Values and consistency

Since then, he has been in the US, first with Inter Miami, and now with Portland Timbers, where he was appointed in 2023.

Regardless of the team he is coaching, he says a coach has to lead from the top, but also needs to surround themselves with people who share their values.

“You’re probably looking after 50 to 60 people in a football club as a head coach, and if you are only one of two people that have the same values, then you are really outnumbered.

“The first six months [at Inter Miami] were probably my toughest in football because it was a fight to do the basics every single day. What are the basics? One, turn up on time. My first meeting, two players were late for the meeting. That was a sure sign that we had a major problem: first meeting, new coach, and two players walk in [late].”

In his first six months at the club, Neville worked on instilling discipline with the players and getting into the routine he wanted, but realised it would need new personnel.

“A the end of that season, we got rid of 22 players and we brought in 19, and we didn’t bring in one superstar. We brought in working-class, hungry, young players that we could mould in the environment that we wanted, that was probably one of the best things that I ever did.

“We changed round 12 staff. I wanted staffing that had the same values [as me], not one that would just come to work, pick the pay cheque up and go home.

“All of a sudden we, we ended up finishing in fifth place. It was probably one of my greatest achievements from a managerial point of view because we had to gut the place.”

At Portland Timbers, he “didn’t need to rip up anything – they just needed guidance, they just needed consistency to the way that we work, they needed a structure and an itinerary.”

Neville drew up a detailed timetable setting out every day for the next 12 months.

“Those that had real hunger and desire to get to the very top, they stuck to it and they improved. Those that couldn’t really handle the consistency of what it takes to be an elite athlete, we ended up sitting out those guys.

“You end up leaving people behind on the journey. Consistency in behaviours, consistency in schedule, consistency of everything that you do is the key.”

Adapting to cultures

But going into a new team also requires some level of adaptation from the coach as well. Neville points to his time as an assistant at Valencia, where he needed to learn Spanish, and took lessons every day. He also needed to get used to a more relaxed culture – something he found tricky when he tried to get an electrician to call at his house.

“In Spain, 10 o’clock means 11, maybe 12, maybe when they want to come, and for the first three months I used to be, like, ‘What the hell’s going on here?! People don’t turn up on time!’ They’re so relaxed and they don’t have that English mentality. So you have to adapt, you have to soften, you have to be flexible in everything that you do.

“Then you go onto the training field. Spanish players want to be coached slightly different than English players. They like the softer approach. They don’t like the raised voice. They want to be cajoled and they want to have a two-way conversation.”

He adds: “If you think that you can go into a culture and the culture adapts to you, no, that’s not going to work. You’ve got to adapt to the culture that you are in. Stamp your own authority. Don’t change as a person, don’t change your philosophy - but you have to adapt too.”