No New Contract For Vera Pauw

Its a pity our mens team wouldnt demand high standards. They are happy to lose away under a failed regime.

That is not how I see it at all, a cohort of players seem to think they are bigger the than manager, and are unwilling to give her credit for any achievements.

Also the alleged issues in the USA again seem to be based on the manager trying to raise standards and be professional.

Then there is this interview by Caldwell which does not make any sense, as she claims the players wanted to more professional then blamed Rudd Dokter. Yet by the very fact she gave an interview like this screams unprofessionalism of itself?

Something does not add up.

Exactly, if the Irish team do not do even better than before what will the excuse be? Caldwell has created a rod by which the players can be beaten now, unless they are exceptional.

No way should a Man take over that team, there seems to be a core of divas at play who will bury whoever steps on their toes, they will pounce on any issue and a man at the helm would be very open to allegations. FAI got what they deserve. It's unlikely we will reach a world cup during the playing lifetime of any of these players. Vera way over achieved.

There is another thing I realised as well. I praised the women after the world cup and suggested many of them could well financially after it, as they are marketable etc. But an interview like Caldwell's hardly helps the teams earning power? Madness to give an interview like the more I think of it.

I get the impression that because of the climate around female sports in general now, the journalists will be very reluctant to investigate properly, call things as they would in mens sports etc.

If there was a Caldwell interview in the males equivalent there would be uproar - calls of unprofessionalism on Cladwell's part by some quarters, and others would seriously investigate the allegations. Interviewing Ruud Dokter to give his side of the story Caldwell relayed for example.

She was doing the team interview before Saturdays match. She could have gone with non descript waffle as many do. Either way she would get slammed. Don't know where right and wrong is on the overall issue but some on here seem to be totally knowledgeable on the facts, it seems.

Not true, I would not have noticed the interview only for the headline where Caldwell said the players were responsible for the success, and not Pauw.

I would not have noticed it otherwise, it was the headline which caught my attention. I assumed it was clickbait first, but then when I listened to the interview I was shocked. Interviews like that are rare in soccer.

I assume many others were the same when they heard it. If it was generic waffle few would have paid any heed.

I looked up Diane Caldwell. Is the reason that there is tension between herself and Pauw that she was dropped from the starting team in 2021 ?

From the article above 2021-

Courage’s Diane Caldwell has been unable to command selection in the team.

“It’s very, very difficult for [Caldwell],” said Pauw. “I’ve spoken to her of course. I had a long meeting by Teams, we do put a lot of energy into it.

“That is one of those very unfortunate situations in top level sport. If somebody is doing so well, the team needs that kind of quality and with Niamh Fahey doing so well on the right side, yeah, you get to a point that you need to make a choice."

--

Cladwell is 35 years of age now - she was 33 when she was dropped by Pauw.

You might have a point there.

And I don't get Caldwell's interview either, sounds a bit close to the bone. But who knows, maybe Caldwell was one of those senior players who was able to talk on this level all along with Pauw and never saw eye to eye. And maybe not a surprise for Pauw to hear But it sounds harsh when she says it on national tv and a bit of a put down on someone whose not there to defend it. Someone who on the outside gave nothing but praise for her squad.

She's a good CB and put in many a good shift with us. Had a season with Utd but got injured halfway through and was then released in 2022. Maybe her age/injuries caught up with her and just wasnt up to that risk in the matches in WC and we only saw a cameo of her in the end.

Be interesting to see the team line up on Saturday. I'll be there. We're in a group that we should come out on top of. But Diane's words throw a bit of unwanted pressure on it now.......

These girls did very well financially from reaching a world cup that they barely deserved to be in. Vera put money in their pockets, eaten bread is easily forgotten.

The problem Pauw has is that this sort of negative press seems to follow her around.

The story from Houston came out months ago and a lot of people especially over on the Soccer board were willing to dismiss it because Vera was "our" coach and what did these Americans know anyway.

But now months on Pauw had public spats with the captain at the tournament, not having her contract renewed and now another senior player calling her out.

So how can Pauw generate such negativity from Houston and Ireland without actually being the problem itself ?

If it looks like a duck etc.

Based on what though? Personally I think if you look at it what Pauw asked of the squad is nothing that her male equivalent would not ask of the team.

The Dutch as a people are very straight talking and you know where you stand with them. The impression I get is some people just can't handle it. And women (unlike the men) are more prone to react by bitchiness (Caldwell) and small cohort in Houston Dynamo who set out to tar Pauw (and it worked). As society is now terrified of optics and America is very litigious in nature. Remember many in Houston Dynamo came out in support of Pauw.

In male soccer historically the whingers and whiners would be told to get on with with it, but society is slowly turning the men into softies the 'how does that make you feel?' brigade. The pendulum has swung way too far the other way.

In women's soccer it seems even worse there is less chat about stuff on the pitch, and the focus off it is soap opera stuff.

I don't think it is just in soccer either. A girl I know who is well into the GAA used to play for Dublin in the football etc. She worked for the camogie association for while and to quote what she said they were always 'bitching' over the slightest thing looking to get one up on each other within the organisation.

I get a real sense that this is what happened in the women's soccer as well.

That is is in a nutshell you put it better than I did. The whingers for the sake of whinging are less tolerated in the mens game. The women's game will struggle to improve IMO as male coaches would get eaten alive in that atmosphere of the women's game, so won't want to get involved in it.

They are delusional, same as all the other women footballers who think that they have a God given right to get equal prizemoney to their male counterparts.

When the female game generates as much revenue as the mens game perhaps we can have that discussion but until then its a deeply flawed argument.