The Portland Timbers have officially moved on to their 4th full time manager in club history. The Timbers and General Manager Ned Grabavoy have hired Phil Neville. The former Manchester United and Everton legend will get his second chance at managing within MLS after he was fired by Inter Miami CF in the summer of last season. With Inter Miami CF, Neville finished with a record of 36 wins, 11 draws, and 43 losses. His best season with Miami came in 2022 when he finished 6th in the Eastern Conference, eventually losing to New York City FC in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. In addition to his time at Miami, Neville has also been the manager of the English Women’s National Team and most recently the Assistant Manager with Canada’s Mens National Team.

What should Portland fans expect with Neville taking charge? Typically, we’ve seen Neville’s squads line up in either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1. This makes a pretty smooth tactical transition from a Savarese lead squad to now Neville. Things could explode for the Timbers next season if Neville can unlock the likes of Santiago Moreno, Antony, Franck Boli, and company in 2024. Neville does break the Timbers trend in head coach hiring. Since the club has joined MLS, they have not hired a manager with prior MLS head coaching experience before. They’ve hired head coaches with lower league experience, MLS assistant coaching experience, and coaches who’ve been involved with the U.S. national teams… but never one who has been a MLS manager before.

This hiring does come with some controversy though. One of the largest and most well known supporters groups within Major League Soccer is Portland’s Timbers Army. The Timbers Army did release a statement in regards to the Neville hiring here. In summation, the fans are not happy with Neville. And the unhappiness stems less from on the field production for Neville’s former sides, and more in off the field comments from the Englishman. In the past Neville made sexist comments on his social media that he would later apologize about. It should be an interesting time moving forward as Neville begins his process incharge of the Timbers. Time will only tell if things will work out for Phil Neville in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.