Phil Neville has admitted there are plenty of people who would love him to fail in his new job as the manager of the England women’s team.

Neville is under no illusions about the size of the task ahead of him. England reached the semi-finals of both the World Cup and the European Championships under his predecessor, Mark Sampson, and have risen to become the third best team in the world according to Fifa.

That ranking, though, is already under threat and Neville’s first games are against three of the best teams in America’s SheBelieves Cup. The hosts, USA, are ranked number one, Germany are ranked second and Thursday night’s opponents, France, who beat England in a friendly last year, are sixth.

It could not be a tougher start for a man some believe was extremely fortunate to be handed such a high-profile position, given he has never been a manager before and has no previous experience in women’s football.

Neville, though, is unapologetic about his supposed shortcomings and revealed he has already told his players that he wants to raise standards even higher, with the sole objective of going into next year’s World Cup as one of the favourites to win the trophy.

Many believe Phil Neville is not qualified to manage the England team credit: Action Images

“We know people are watching these games expecting us to lose them,” said Neville, speaking at the team’s hotel in Columbus ahead of only his second training session since he named his first England squad.

“People want me to fail, 100 per cent, they want me to come here and lose all three games. But do you know what? That’s just how it was in my playing career. People wanted me to fail. That’s part of my motivation.

“The team have got their motivation, I have got mine. It is to show people that we will be successful. I’m not going to be judged by my bosses at the FA off these three games. But they know they are three massive games and if you look at England’s record in this tournament, we have found it difficult to win games.

“It’s going to be no different this time. But this is a chance for us to make a statement. If we had played a team who we are better than in my first game and won three or four-nil, I wouldn’t have learned anything.

“I have already learned that the players who are here want to be here. And I know over the next 10 days what standards are required. We are playing the number one and number two teams in the world and I will see them at eye level. We will see how good they are.”

Part of that negative feeling towards Neville is because of his family name, as well as his playing history, with Manchester United and Everton, but he also has to win over scepticism within the English game.

England are ranked No 3 in the world credit: AFP

He does not appear to have had any problems so far convincing his players that he can lead them to the tournament victory that has evaded them.

“Why do people want me to fail? I think it’s the English mentality,” he added. “I’m sure Gareth [Southgate] feels the same way sometimes.

“But also, I think it was a surprise to people that I wanted to take this job and the negativity that surrounded it, there are people who want me to fail.

“What I’ve found, though, since coming into the women’s game is that there are more people who want me to do well. The way I’ve been received inside the women’s game has been nothing short of fantastic.”

Neville’s task has not been made any easier by the loss of captain Steph Houghton and vice-captain Jordan Nobbs, who pulled out of the squad because of injury. Neville chose his words carefully, but the loss of Arsenal’s Nobbs, in particular, has frustrated him. As an international manager, he is already learning about conflict with clubs.

“Steph will remain as my captain, she has a nasty ankle injury,” he explained. “When she comes off in a game, you know it’s serious.

“But Arsenal, they have pulled a lot of players out of international squads, all the squads, Scotland, Holland… they’ve got a continental cup final coming up, so we’ll see if those players play in the next game.”