Former England coach Gary Neville has hit out at The Guardian after they published a report suggesting he undermined Roy Hodgson.
England were dumped out of Euro 2016 by Iceland in the last-16 stage of the tournament, which followed on from them winning just one of their three group games.
That in turn left them in second place behind Wales, and had they made it past Iceland, they would have faced a bitterly difficult run thereafter.
However, Hodgson’s men were unable to overcome their rivals despite being heavy favourites to do so, and the inquest has been on-going in the aftermath of the tournament with England now needing to identify a successor after the 68-year-old resigned immediately after their elimination.
The Guardian though have caused a stir, particularly with Neville, after they suggested that there was ‘friction behind the scenes’ when it came to Hodgson and his backroom staff.
They add that there was a clear divide about the team’s methods, and the majority of the tension was between the England manager and Neville.
While the players have hit out and dismissed suggestions that they had any issues with Hodgson’s methods, Neville has taken a similar approach and has gone very public with it by responding to a link to the story on Twitter.
The fall-out is likely to continue for a few weeks yet as the tournament continues and England question what could have been but ultimately Neville has ruled out any suggestion that there were issues between the coaching staff which in turn filtered down to the players.
It remains to be seen who the FA appoint and in what direction they go next after another dismal summer of international football, but there will be a fresh start on the bench and they will be desperate to get the right man in place moving forward.
@guardian_sport @DTguardian this is absolute bullshit! Apology? Removal of article? Let me know!
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 3, 2016