Neville returns to club football with Oxford United
Neville was Head of Performance at Blackburn Rovers until June 2017
Written by Training Ground Guru — June 30, 2021
CHRIS NEVILLE, one of the most experienced performance practitioners in English football, has returned to the club game as Head of Performance at Oxford United.
Neville started his career as a strength and conditioning coach with Portsmouth in 2002 and went on to work for the England men's team, LA Galaxy and as Head of Performance for Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League.
He left Rovers in June 2017 and has worked as a performance consultant and senior lecturer in football science at Southampton Solent University for the last four years. He will continue in that teaching role while working two days a week at Oxford.
Meanwhile, Harry Routledge has joined the club as Head of Sport Science. He had a short spell as sport scientist at Fleetwood last season and has also worked for Los Angeles FC, Watford and Port Adelaide.
Routledge replaces Chris Short, who has moved to join Neil Warnock at Middlesbrough.
Neville said: “It’s an exciting new role, one I’m very much looking forward to. The players were in good shape under Chris Short - he is someone I have known a long time and brilliant at what he does.
"My role is to come in and build on that very solid foundation but also just to make sure that best practice and the way we do things runs right through the club
“I have been really impressed by the facilities and the investment the club has already made not just in gym equipment but also monitoring, technology, medical, nutrition and everything we need to make sure the players are fit and robust for what is always a very long and challenging season.”
