Phil Neville revealed the high expectations set upon him as Inter Miami boss by co-owner David Beckham.
The duo were long-time teammates with Manchester United and the England national team, winning Premier League and Champions League titles as well as a host of trophies.
Neville, of course, is now in charge of Beckham’s Inter Miami outfit but, despite their long history as friends, there’s no preferential treatment. The expectations on Neville remain just as high as they would be for any other managerial incumbent.
“At the end of the day, this is David Beckham’s football club and he wants to win,” Neville said on MLSsoccer.com’s The Call Up podcast. “He doesn’t settle for anything other – second place for him is losing, third place is losing. First place is the only place he wants to be and I realize that.
“I think when you have an ownership [group] like we have, there’s no gray areas. You have to win. And that’s what I say to the players: My expectation is we’ve got to win every game and that’s where we want to be.”
Neville elaborated: “I think the biggest thing I would say about David and the Mas brothers is that they want to win. Their expectation is to win MLS this season even though we’ve talked about competing and building and the foundation.
“They want to win every single game, so when we don’t win, they are not very happy, and I’m under no illusions that my job remit is to bring success to this football club. And if I can’t bring success to this football club, then they will bring somebody in that will bring success.”
After failing to take Miami into the Playoffs during his first season with the club, the pressure is on Neville this season – especially having signed high-quality players like Alejandro Pozuelo, Leonardo Campana, and DeAndre Yedlin.
Neville is well aware of the consequences, should he fail to deliver.
“I’ve said from day one that I think we’ll both know when the time comes to look at each other and shake hands and say let’s get back to being best friends and not boss and employee,” he said.
The Herons currently sit ninth in the Eastern Conference, three points below the MLS Cup Playoffs line. Up next is a trip to the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
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