Neville Phil is a former English footballer and current coach, whose last club was the Spanish “Valencia”. This year he turned 39 years old, so his coaching career has only just begun. Neville Phil played as a defensive midfielder when he was a footballer, but could also play on both defense flanks.
Carier start
Neville Phil was born on January 21, 1977 in England, where at the age of thirteen he was selected in one of the country's strongest clubs, Manchester United. There he played for youth teams of various age categories for five years, until he was offered a professional contract. Even then it was clear that a new talent was growing at United, and Neville Phil proved it by playing three matches for the club before he even signed a professional contract with him.
Manchester United Game
Phil Neville, whose photos already appeared on the covers of the country's leading sports publications, did not suspect that he would eventually become a club legend. But in his first professional season, he played as many as 34 matches. By 1997, a 20-year-old footballer became a regular base player and gradually became one of the key actors on the field. The player spent ten years at United, winning six league titles with the club in England, three FA cups and winning the Champions League in 1999 when he was only 22 years old. In total for the “Manicunians”, the football player spent 386 matches, scoring eight goals. However, in 2005 it became clear that Phil Neville was not going to spend his entire career at Manchester, so he moved to Everton, which paid about six million euros for the player.
Going to Everton
Naturally, in Everton, Neville immediately got a place in the starting lineup, which he did not lose during all eight years spent in the new club. Unfortunately, as part of Everton, Phil could not add a single trophy to his collection. He played 303 matches, scoring five goals. With this result, he entered the top ten legendary football players of the club, who spent the maximum number of matches for him. Neville decided to finish his football career only in 2013, when he was 36 years old.
Team appearances
In the England national team, Phil made his debut in 1996, but was not called on very often. Throughout his career, he has played only 59 matches in a England team shirt. After just one match, he went to the 1996 European Championship, but in all the matches he stayed on the bench. The next major tournament Neville went to was the 2000 European Championship, but there he was already playing as a base player. At the 2004 European Championships, he was again as a substitute and played in only two matches, and this was his last major tournament. The last Neville match for the national team took place in October 2010, it was a game against the Estonian national team.
Coaching career
Immediately after completing a player’s career, Neville decided to become a coach and in the summer of 2013 received the position of assistant David Moyes at Manchester United. He worked there for only one year, after which he took a short break and in the summer of 2015 became an assistant coach at Valencia. He worked for another year in the club, after which he left and until today remains without a coaching position.
Personal life
What about the football player’s personal life? Phil Neville and his wife Julie have two children - a son, Harvey, and a daughter, Isabella. Since 2014, Phil has been a vegetarian - two years ago his wife offered him two weeks to live on a diet without meat, and since then he has not returned to consuming this product. If we talk about earlier years, then at Elton High School, Neville already showed excellent football abilities, since during all five years he spent there, Phil was the captain of his team.