It has become an open secret in women’s football that the case of Willie Kirk, the Leicester City manager sacked on Thursday over an alleged relationship with an unnamed player, is the tip of the iceberg.
There are understood to be potentially dozens of similar player-coach relationships across the football pyramid. The club said Kirk had “breached the team’s code of conduct to a degree that makes his position untenable”. The 45-year-old has not commented on the matter publicly.
That code of conduct was brought in ahead of the 2023-24 season, as part of an “ongoing commitment to professionalising the women’s game since the takeover of Leicester Women in 2020”.
Would it have been a sackable offence before that? Professionalisation has inevitably not just blurred lines but raised standards, for the better. Would it ever have been deemed acceptable?
There is no need to rehearse again the position that player-manager relationships create an unhealthy dynamic within squads, and not only for the people directly implicated in a pernicious imbalance of power.
For the players, coaches and staff around them, morale is dented, and there are legitimate questions over a manager’s ability to select a team impartially. It may even have grave ramifications affecting players’ careers, contracts and wages.
A common argument against banning them from the game is that player-coach relationships are not necessarily a salacious forbidden fruit, but a workplace inevitability. Lots of people meet their partner at work.
In women’s football, they do not always involve male coaches, considering the prevalence of same-sex relationships in the women’s game, or even head coaches, given the number of backroom staff now employed.
It is also true that such liaisons are hard to police, not least because of employment laws surrounding personal privacy. In the UK, employers need permission to keep certain types of data about their staff, and employees have a right not to disclose personal details such as their sexual history and orientation.
The contrarians among us will say that if clubs outlaw player-coach relationships, it will simply force them into secrecy. In the same way that if boxing were banned tomorrow, it would not stop, but go underground, some non-professional clubs fear that a surveillance culture would do more harm than good.
That is no excuse for them not to endeavour to provide a safe environment for their players. The haste and decisiveness with which Leicester acted regarding Kirk is commendable, particularly as he has been a transformational figure at the club, first as director of football and subsequently as manager. For now, Jennifer Foster is in interim charge, with Leicester travelling to Aston Villa on Saturday.
Kirk is not even the only high-profile manager to be sacked this year for an alleged inappropriate relationship. Sheffield United dismissed Jonathan Morgan in February after he admitted engaging in a relationship with a teenage player during his time at Leicester – he was in his late 20s at the time and insists she was 18, though the anonymous player told The Athletic she was 17 when it began. At the time, Leicester were not professional and were a separate entity from the men’s team.
In 2017, the FA also found former England manager Mark Sampson to have engaged in “inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour” with players during his time at Bristol Academy, and that was a factor- though far from the only one – in his departure.
A precedent has finally – belatedly – been set. Now it must be followed. Codes of conduct are dictated by clubs, not the FA, though every organisation must have one to obtain a license to play in the Women’s Super League (WSL).
Earlier this month, when news of Kirk’s suspension first broke, the majority of WSL managers condemned player-coach relationships as “inappropriate”. Two clubs did not allow questions on the issue at press conferences.
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes led calls for more effective safeguarding measures. But her comments were overshadowed because she inadvertently conflated the issue with player-player relationships, which she said were also problematic.
That did not appear to go down well with members of her own squad, including defender Jess Carter, who is in a relationship with teammate Ann Katrin-Berger. Carter liked a post on X describing the statement as “beyond bonkers”.
Yet much of what Hayes said was absolutely correct. Clubs must have a minimum standard. Whistleblowing and reporting safeguarding issues is not easy for players, who fear a detrimental impact on their own careers. There is hesitancy when treading the fine fault lines between suspicion and concrete evidence. It is the responsibility of clubs to ensure there are reporting mechanisms in place that allow players to use them with confidence.
English football does not have to lead the way. The Yates report into allegations of abusive behaviour and sexual misconduct in the NWSL gave 12 recommendations aimed at providing a “Safe Soccer” system and focusing on developing a more thorough vetting process.
Among the recommendations were disclosing misconduct openly to ensure abusive coaches do not move from team to team – though not all manager-player relationships can be deemed abusive. It also introduced a mandate for NWSL clubs to have a safeguarding officer, which is already in place in England’s top flight. At clubs below that level, it is not always practical due to funding.
In the professional game, however, there is no longer any defence for not acting. Kirk’s departure should occasion a shift in attitude across the sport on an issue that has plagued women’s football for too long.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/bYUawDP
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