Fara Williams: England forward discusses how Phil Neville is using Sir Alex Ferguson’s wisdom to bring the Lionesses together
Williams, who recently reached 170 caps for the Lionesses in the recent friendlies, has been as regular in the England squad since the former Manchester United player took charge
LIONESSES forward Fara Williams believes that learning under Sir Alex Ferguson is what is making Phil Neville the manager he is.
Neville, who was announced as the England women's boss in January admitted at St. Georges Park that the squad were "understanding his philosophy" and Williams agrees that he has brought changes to the camp.
The Reading striker said: "Phil has been under Sir Alex Ferguson at United and when you have been under that leadership and the standards that he had to make them so successful for so many years, he is trying to drip feed some of the stuff that they did.
"It’s small things like wearing [team] tracksuits at dinner, tidying things away – the small standards that they had at United that made them successful.
"These are the things he is trying to bring into this environment. He wants us to brave."
Williams is England's most capped player ever with 170 caps and was part of the Team GB squad at London 2010.
She said: Representing your country will always be the same. It will be nice to play again.
"I had a nightmare game in March against Germany and then a nightmare in the Euros semi final.
"I have had a nightmare couple of games for England so it would be nice to get back to playing comfortable and confident in this environment."
Williams is currently playing for Reading in the Women's Super League after joining the Royals on a two-year deal from Arsenal women and the forward feels her game has improved since the move.
"[Reading] have some really good coaches – not to say that Arsenal did not help me,"; she added.
"I think that is a whole different story. I think other stuff away from football probably distracted me away from football. "But at Reading they have some fantastic coaches that I wish I had met eight years ago. They are really keen to develop players on the tactical, technical side.
"The information they give is amazing and if I met them eight years ago I wonder what sort of player I could have been. I am still learning at 34.
"I used to think I was a technical player until you play against the best technical players in the world and then you realise as a nation we really are far behind.
"Our game has only just gone professional – I turned pro at 29 so we are still so far behind but we are catching them. "Every day we are getting better on the ball and I think that is why Phil has changed our style of play and wanted to get us playing with the ball more.
"I think club performances are the key to getting picked at National level. You have to be consistently playing well at club so if you had asked me two years ago when I was at Arsenal and not playing well if I deserved to go to the World Club – probably on performances no but on experience I think that is why I got selected.
"I think Mark [Sampson] knew enough about me and that is why he selected me. Now I probably feel that I am worthy of a place in the squad due to a place at Reading."