Phil Neville to remain as England Women head coach despite poor run of results since World Cup

The Football Association has decided Phil Neville remains the right man to take England Women to the 2021 European Championship despite disappointing results since the World Cup.

Senior figures are understood to have given him full backing to see out his contract, and he will continue to also lead Team GB for next year’s Olympics.

Neville conceded last week after a scrambled 3-2 win against Czech Republic that his team needed to be better. “We’ve got massive improvements to make,” he said. “We’re conceding too many goals, we let goals in easily and we’re giving teams that smell that they can get at us and win.”

He maintained, however, that he “never felt pressure on me”. “I’ve had unbelievable backing from the FA,” he said. “They are going to throw their absolute weight behind the next push we’re going to make. That’s been the message that I’ve had.”

Over the weekend, it emerged the FA had turned to Dawn Scott to be the new head of sports science and fitness for the women’s set-up. Scott previously worked with the United States as they become back-to-back world champions, as well as Olympic gold medallists in 2012. Scott will begin her role working out of St George’s Park on Jan 1.

The Lionesses’ loss to Germany at Wembley last weekend in front of 77,768 supporters – the highest attendance for a women’s match in the country – was their fifth in seven matches. “I’ve not performed as a manager, the players haven’t performed as players and we take full responsibility for that and ultimately the buck stops with me,” Neville said prior to the Czech Republic match.