However Inter Miami Finishes, Phil Neville Has Proven Himself

If you had doubts when Phil Neville was hired as the second manager in the brief MLS club history of David Beckham-owned Inter Miami CF, you weren’t alone.

Neville managed the England women’s national team to a third-place finish at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. But he had coached exactly one previous match at any level of the men’s professional game, and had never played or coached in MLS.

There were also questions whether he had truly earned the job or had achieved it via nepotism from Beckham, a longtime friend since the two came up through Manchester United’s youth academy together. And there was little reason to trust Miami’s decision making at the time after a dysfunctional first season that saw the Herons finish 19th in the Supporters’ Shield standings, then get hammered with roster sanctions for 2022 and 2023 after an investigation found the 2020 squad had been constructed while violating MLS salary restrictions.

Amid all that, Year 2 for Miami under Neville in 2021 wasn’t appreciably better than Year 1 under Diego Alonso. But in Year 3 for Miami, Neville has his side on the verge of the MLS Cup Playoffs after facing virtually every kind of challenge a manager can. And however the postseason push finishes, the 45-year-old should no longer be subject to any doubt over his competence as a high-level head coach.

The season began with a draw and four consecutive losses — all by multiple goals — and what appeared to be a war of wills between Neville and his highest-paid player, former Juventus, AC Milan and Argentina national team star Gonzalo Higuain.

With his team floundering, Neville made the difficult call to removed an apparently out-of-shape, unfocused and unhappy Higuain from his starting lineup in favor of young, in-form Ecuador World Cup hopeful Leonardo Campana. And yet he did so while always making clear there was a route for Higuain back into his starting XI and, apparently, keeping the relationship healthy enough that Higuain pushed to regain that place.

That the Argentine has done to impressive effect, clearly working back to a better fitness level to re-emerge at a critical time when Campana went down to injury. He has 11 goals and two assists in his last 13 appearances, which includes 11 consecutive starts.

Neville’s management of the Higuain situation might be his most impressive feat, but there’s a string of other unique obstacles he’s overcome.

For example, consider the stress of roaming your technical area on matchdays with the club owner on your team bench. That’s the reality at many Miami home games, where Beckham has decided his brand of club ownership is a highly involved one. (Beckham is co-owner along with brothers Jorge and Jose Mas.)

Or consider what unfolded this past Sunday, when Miami center back Damion Lowe accused D.C. United’s Taxi Fountas of targeting him with a racial slur. The postgame focus was rightly on the ugliness of that alleged incident. But it shouldn’t be lost how Miami responded for the final 30 minutes after deciding to continue, scoring one apparent match-winner that was ruled offside and then deservedly finding another one through Higuain in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time.

Through it all, Neville has shown a willingness to venture from his comfort zone, from answering questions from local Latin media in Spanish, to opting for a 4-4-2 diamond formation for the first time all season in Sunday’s big victory. That’s perhaps the most important managerial quality of all when coupled with savvy decision making, because it allows a gaffer to ask players to do the same.

Miami’s season is a few weeks from complete, and their playoff status remains far from guaranteed. But however it ends, any speculation Neville isn’t up for this job the next one he takes should be consigned to history.