Portland Timbers hire former Inter Miami manager Phil Neville as head coach
The Portland Timbers hired Phil Neville as their head coach, the team announced Monday.
Neville was previously the manager of Inter Miami, going 31-41-11 across two-and-a-half seasons before being let go in June. Portland parted ways with longtime coach Gio Savarese this summer. Portland is in talks to potentially bring Jason Kreis with Neville as an assistant. The club is also in talks to retain Miles Joseph on the staff as well. Joseph served as interim coach following Savarese’s departure and was among the finalists to be named head coach.
A new era in Portland.
Phil Neville is #RCTID 👏
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) November 6, 2023
Neville was hired by Miami, where his former England teammate David Beckham is a co-owner, in January 2021 and led the club to the playoffs in 2022. He previously managed the England women’s national team as well. He was a candidate for several other MLS clubs’ head-coaching vacancies this year, including the New England Revolution’s.
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After firing Savarese, the Timbers narrowly missed the playoffs, finishing just one point below the line. Portland went 5-2-2 under Joseph, including a run of seven consecutive games unbeaten before falling in the season finale and missing out on the postseason. The club is headed for an overhaul this winter, with several key players expected to depart as the club will likely open two designated player spots to build around club-record signing Evander.
Additional candidates that made it to the final round of the coaching search included Joseph, Robin Fraser, Dome Torrent, Ezra Hendrickson and others.
Evander, Diego Chara, Eryk Williamson, Santi Moreno and Juan David Mosquera will make up the core moving forward for Portland, with big signings to come.
Miami dealt with numerous injuries to key players under Neville in 2023, with captain and DP Gregore out for most of the season, and ditto for key starter Jean Mota. They also were preserving salary cap and roster space for a big summer that saw Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and three expensive, talented U-22 initiative players arrive.
Neville had been in charge while Miami managed a roster rebuild through sanctions and budget restrictions. Neville was just four months into his role when Major League Soccer found that Inter Miami had violated the league’s salary budget and roster guidelines in 2020. Inter Miami was fined $2 million and received another $2,271,250 reduction in allocation funds, which are used to build MLS rosters, for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Neville played more than 500 Premier League games across tenures at Manchester United and Everton, winning six league titles and one Champions League, as well as three FA Cups. He made 59 appearances for England.
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(Photo: Jim Rassol / USA Today)
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