No New Contract For Vera Pauw

Taking the Houston scenario some of the allegations are outlandish schoolyard type stuff that probably never happened as alleged and you wouldn't see a professional football coach promoting in the first place. Some are a bit more puzzling such as Pauw's attitude to S&C but again that may be down to Pauw's coaching philosphy or style right or wrong (definitely wrong) but I digress. As for the Ireland Women's team, Pauw was seen as a bit of a coup for the FAI when she was appointed and that turned out to be correct as evidenced by our qualification for the WWC. She brought an increased level of professionalism to the set up and undoubtedly improved the team to achieve qualification. It seems that at both Houston and the Irish womens team that a group of players in both set ups were unable to attain or achieve the level of professionalism she demanded of her players and that resulted in what we saw in the piece from the Athletic and this poor interview from Caldwell.

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Caldwell is complaining about lack of professionalism and lack of preparation on Pauws part.

"I think preparation for games could have been better, physical preparation, opponent analysis, match tactics, in-game match tactics, changes, systems of play," she said, adding that players had asked Pauw to "professionalise" various aspects of their preparations.

I was on the other side of this debate (not having all the facts); but Caldwells interview has ended this discussion in my view; she makes it crystal clear why Pauw wasnt kept on.

Many athletes in the NBA/NFL have actual weight clauses in their contracts.

Fair point, but Katie McCabe's comments of "it not being a player decision" or however she worded it don't exactly back Caldwell's comments up. I maybe a bit cynical here and this is not necessairly true, but Caldwell was dropped by Pauw for a spell and this could be some bitterness on her part. Correct me if I'm wrong but there were no calls of a lack of effort "to proffesionalise" the Houston Dash set up and this is the only instance of such calls coming from the Irish womens team so far anyway.

As for Martin O'Neill, Ireland were dire under him for the last two years of his tenure probably longer, so the comments from Doherty were not exactly a bolt from the blue. The end was a long time coming for O'Neill at that point and the dogs on the street knew that. Pauw managed Ireland to their first women's world cup ever and yes they didnt perform to the levels they may have hoped they didn't disgrace themselves either and lets face it were up against much superior opposition in the group, so yes I think the discussion around Caldwell's comments is warranted.

That's not the same thing.

"Unable to attain ot achieve the level of professionalism she demended of her players". She banned players from weight lifting ffs. 😂😂 Utterly bizarre for a manager at an elite level of sports to hold that opinion.

Interesting to see the terms used to describe the women players across Boards.......petulant.......brats......bitches....ungrateful......ingrates...... Says a lot really.

The coach has a long standing history of being a hard person to work with. She has form for poor treatment of players from her time in the USA. The Irish players didn’t get on with her. They raised that with the FAI some years ago. Yet it’s the players that are being subject to character assassination by social media warriors.

It's to help prevent ACL ruptures.

Which has been described as a pandemic in women's football.

FAI might also support them !

And no one manager is bigger then the team either. Any half decent modern manager knows they need to have the support of their players to succeed, if Vera didn't realise that then she is extremely naive, at best.

That can't be serious? Since when does weightlifting cause ACL injuries? Does she have qualifications in sport science?

But Caldwell is a player NOT a manager. If Caldwell was giving interviews in her capacity as a manager of the Irish side, or an opposing side completely different.

Basically Caldwell has completely overstepped the mark of what a pro footballer should do in an interview. Not only diminishing the previous managers achievements but simultaneously claims them as the players own.

As many other posters have said have implied it is naive in the extreme, but it now heaps pressure on the players to REALLY do well. Basically Caldwell implied that they are better off without a manager and they can win games on their own.

I wonder how Ireland's interim manager (Eileen Gleeson) feels about Caldwell's comments? Or how favourite for the job (Lisa Fallon) thinks about the comments?

To me it looks like a clear out of the Ireland squad is needed. Some players who do not know their place.

You do know Ireland have finished second in their group before, and only got to this WC because it was extended to 32 teams from the previous 24??

Pauw wasn’t some footballing diety. Right place, right time.

Oh stop, seriously. There's a reason vera is likely the only coach advocating that professional athletes don't do weightlifting. It's an utterly bizarre position to have.

She hasn't overstepped the mark of what a pro player should do at an interview. She just hasn't followed the tendency for professional players who are highly media trained to say absolutely nothing of importance. She was refreshingly honest in her opinions on Vera. The idea that managers can say what they want and player have to shut up and stay silent is outdated and mangers who follow that approach will ultimately fail.

As for heaping pressure on the players, again, I don't why that is a bad thing. She specifically said "We just need to raise our standards in all levels of performance on and off the pitch. Expectations of ourselves and expectations of staff." Pressure is a privilege as they say. Caldwell should be applauded for that mindset and attitude.

Also, where exactly did Caldwell imply they were better off without a manager? I think she implied they are better off without a manager stuck in the 1980s, and she's right about that. Caldwell said "I think preparation for games could have been better, physical preparation, opponent analysis, match tactics, in-game match tactics, changes, systems of play.” these are all things managers should beinvolved in, so I don't she is arguing that a manager isn't required.

And where exactly is a players place? Staying silent and accepting terrible standards?

Imagine insisting retaining control on nutrition ahead of actual trained professionals the area. She sounds like a complete control freak.

@Augme Imagine insisting retaining control on nutrition ahead of actual trained professionals the area. She sounds like a complete control freak.

That's her job , to be in control of a team of professionals footballers,or in this case a bunch of babies