Phil Neville: Steve McClaren one of the best coaches I've worked for.One of the potential stars of English coaching, Phil Neville, has given a fascinating insight into the qualities of the England managers he played under.
Neville is starting a coaching career, weighing up opportunities at Everton and Manchester United while he is also a possibility for the England Under-21s post when Stuart Pearce leaves.
Neville, 36, has been completing his A-licence and drawing on lessons learned during 59 England internationals, beginning against China as a teenager in 1996.
"Terry Venables was brilliant," said Neville. "In terms of the whole management thing, he was the most rounded. He had man-management. He had a fiery side. The players respected him.
"Tactically he was brilliant. I liked the ways he had coaches around him who challenged him, Don Howe and Bryan Robson. The fact that the No 2 and No 3 were not afraid to express an opinion would make the senior coach even better.
"Glenn Hoddle's training sessions were brilliant, really enjoyable. He played me at wing-back and he was probably the only coach who got that system working properly.
"It wasn’t five at the back - it was three at the back and the rest were attacking, really fluid."
Hoddle's man-management was occasionally questioned particularly as he was sometimes perceived as impatient with players less technically gifted than him.
"He was actually OK with me," said Neville.
The full-back was still distraught when Hoddle omitted him from his France 98 squad on the eve of the tournament. Hoddle was criticised for the way the final cut was handled, namely the summons to his room and the grim news relayed as Kenny G played in the background.
"When a manager names a team, my attitude has always been, if you are not in it, just get on with it and smile," said Neville.
"Not everyone is like me, so I can’t expect everyone to react like me. That was maybe Glenn’s problem.
"Technically he was one of the greatest players we have ever produced. He wanted everyone to have his standard but that wasn’t going to be possible. He was young (39) to be an England manager.
"Kevin (Keegan) gave me the most games of any England manager and really believed in me. I really enjoyed playing under him. We didn’t play well at all at Euro 2000.
"We took a two-goal lead against Portugal but they dominated the game. We were poor against Romania, had a good half against Germany.
"I had one game (against France in 2000) under (caretaker) Howard Wilkinson and for the three days, I loved playing under him.
"He was organised. He was fair. You hear these things about him being a dour Yorkshireman but he was quite the opposite. He was funny.
"Sven-Goran Eriksson had a really lovely manner about him. He never shouted. As much as I loved playing for him, there was a time when you wanted him to walk into the dressing room and give you a kick up the backside. Instead of saying 'well done' all the time.
"The world isn’t always rosy. With Sven, everything was always rosy. But that was just his way - he got the team into a good moment.
"Steve McClaren was one of the best coaches I've worked for and I think he was unlucky. The last game against Croatia killed him because he lost so many players through injury."
Neville's England career finished in 2007. He has since been on "observing" duty with the Under-21s.
Source: Telegraph
