Beckham defends hiring of Neville, who’s looking to prove ‘foreign coaches can come here and be successful’

Despite their long-standing friendship, David Beckham dismissed any idea that the hiring of Phil Neville as Inter Miami CF’s new coach had any nepotism involved.

When Inter Miami named Chris Henderson and Neville as the new sporting director and coach, respectively, Neville’s appointment was the one that attracted more questions.

Henderson came to South Florida with an extensive background in Major League Soccer — playing in the league from 1996-2006, including for the Miami Fusion in 2001, and being an integral part of a Seattle Sounders front office that was responsible for bringing four U.S. Open Cups, two MLS Cups and a Supporters’ Shield to Seattle during Henderson’s 13-year tenure with the club.

Meanwhile, Neville’s lack of experience as a head coach and near 30-year relationship with Beckham, an Inter Miami co-owner and president of soccer operations, raised questions about whether favoritism was involved in his hire.

The two came through the ranks of the Manchester United academy before being teammates on the Manchester United senior team from 1994-2003. They were also teammates on England’s men’s national soccer team and are both co-owners of English Football League Two — the fourth tier of the English football league system — club Salford City.

Even though they’ve been close friends since they were teenagers, Beckham was adamant that Neville wasn’t on the receiving end of any preferential treatment.

“It has nothing to do with him being my friend,” Beckham said. “Our ownership group doesn’t just employ our friends. We employ the best people. We’re running a serious soccer club here and at the end of the day, we hire people that we feel are best suited for the job.

“It has nothing to do with the relationship, friendship [or] loyalty we have to each other. He’s the right man for the job.”

Jorge Mas, Inter Miami’s managing owner, reiterated Beckham’s sentiment, but more directly.

“Phil Neville was not handed the Inter Miami job — Phil Neville earned the job,” he said. “There was a very thorough interview process with multiple candidates. There were inquiries and interest from coaches all over the globe. Phil earned it. Phil’s the right man for the job at this time.

“The fact he’s David’s friend is a reality. Nobody runs from that. We embrace that, but he wasn’t given or handed the job because he’s friends with or solely because of his relationship with David Beckham.”

Neville didn’t express concerns about if having Beckham as his boss would affect their relationship.

“When it gets down to work, we’re here to win,” he said, “we’re here to be successful, we’re here to build something really great.”

Neville, who served as an assistant coach Valencia CF in La Liga, Manchester United and the England men’s U-21s, also pushed back against doubts that he didn’t have the requisite head coaching experience for the Inter Miami job.

He’s only been a head coach once in his career — with the England women’s national soccer team from 2018 until he filled the Inter Miami coaching vacancy on Monday, meaning he hasn’t been the head coach at the club level until now.

“When people throw that I have a lack of experience, I throw back that actually, I have a lot of experience,” he said. “Being around winners, both as a player and coaching at the top level in Spain with Valencia, Manchester United and the England women’s national team.”

Still, foreign coaches with more head-coaching experience than Neville have a history of not having the same level of success when making the jump to MLS — such as Inter Miami’s former coach and Neville’s predecessor Diego Alonso.

“The biggest challenge for me as a coach is to come here and prove to people the foreign coaches can come here and be successful,” Neville said. “That’s the one thing that really excites me — to prove people wrong.

“There are many things I got to learn. There will be things about the travel, etc., and the different time zones that we have to adapt to, as well. But ultimately, I think in my football career, in my short coaching career, I’ve had to adapt to different situations like travel, like heat, etc. So I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Creating the right DNA and as Neville calls it, “elite behavior”, at Inter Miami is a challenge he sees similar to the one he had in his previous coaching stop.

“The journey I’ve just been on with the England women’s national team is very similar to the journey I see here. We went on a journey for three years of instilling those values into a team to try to become the best. That’s the philosophy I want to do here.”