An old tweet has come back to haunt Phil Neville.
Neville’s reign as the new manager of England women’s football team didn’t get off to the greatest start as he’s been forced to delete his whole Twitter account after a 2012 post re-emerged on Tuesday evening.
“I am honoured to be given the chance to lead England,” Neville said in a statement.
However the former Manchester United and Everton player’s excitement didn’t last long as he quickly went into panic mode after his followers reminded him of a tweet from six years ago in which he made some less-than-flattering remarks about women.
In an attempt to explain why he’d said “morning men” in his first tweet of the day in January of 2012, Neville claimed that he “thought the women would of been busy preparing breakfast/getting kids ready/making the beds.”
The reductive assessment of women was understandably criticised by his followers, who questioned how suitable the 41-year-old was for the role, given his past opinions on females.
Neville quickly deleted his entire Twitter account and we can likely expect a statement of apology before long.
And on what was supposed to be a night of celebration for the former England international, Neville instead received a stark reminder that the internet simply never forgets.
Uh oh! Looks like you won't be the women's manager for long pal after the @FA and the players find out!
— JB (@james_blacknell) January 23, 2018
oh dear Phil, this is bad…
— Harry (@HarryCFC_) January 23, 2018
Shortest managerial reign ever well done Phil
— J (@JeffUtd9) January 23, 2018
Wow @fizzer18 has got previous with sexist tweets. Didn't see that coming… ? #Lionesses #FA
Suppose they'll struggle with stepovers because of their shoes as well Phil. ?♂️
— Paul Ellis (@Paul_Ellis147) January 23, 2018
Wow Phil…
Sexism 101 that.
— MsaeĐ مساعد? (@MrSudairy) January 23, 2018
Gone faster than Big Sam…
— SilverFox (@chantuelle) January 23, 2018