Anything other than winning the World Cup at the first time of asking was always going to be judged as failure. Sheâs as well off out of it.
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Pauw right in the kisser.
Between the player power dynamic and the general ineptness, untrustworthiness and limited financial capacity of the FAI Iâd say theyâll get some high-quality candidates alright âŚ
Phil Neville might take it.
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A right fucking clown.
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Semi literate, to add to her journalistic insight.
Edit, already noted above. The women are certainly more than equal to any menâs team in internal strife and general bitching.
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Shame McCabe didnât put her name to that. Talk about a slanted article
Leaked footage from the Irish girls training campâŚ
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Vera going to be on News at one on the radio
Tony OâDonoghue & RTĂ going for a piecemeal release of Vera Pauwâs FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE THE FAI SENSATIONALLY DECIDED NOT TO OFFER HER A NEW CONTRACT. Itâs not Saipan lads, no matter how much you try to build it up. OâDonoghue is an absolute clownshoe of an individual.
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I heard the OTB boys trying to hype up the Spanish FA debacle as their version of Saipan. I mean it might be if more people cared about womenâs football.
Gavin Cooney also threw in a beauty the following night about having grave concerns about the current situation in England academies because the likes of Chelsea are using academy graduates as commodities to balance the books. He was also trying to argue that the Saudi league will be one of the top 5 leagues in the world within the next 10 years. Again it might be if any adults actually cared about it. Which they donât.
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EXCLUSIVE |
Behind the scenes at the rise and fall of Vera Pauw â Irelandâs most successful womenâs football manager
Turmoil in the FAI and dressing-room divisions brought reign of Dutch-born coach to a very bitter end
Soon after her appointment as Ireland womenâs team manager in 2019, Vera Pauw poked her head into the office of Stephen McGuinness, the general secretary of the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI), whose office is in FAI headquarters in Abbottstown, Dublin.
The playersâ association was holding its annual black-tie awards dinner that week. McGuinness remembers being dumbstruck when Pauw knocked on his office door, introduced herself and made an unusual request.
âWould you be able to get me a dress size eight and a pair of shoes size six? Iâll wear anything,â she said.
The PFAIâs invitation to Pauw had not been passed on in time, even though it had been sent three months previously. This left Pauw without an outfit for the big event.
Overcoming his surprise, McGuinness told Pauw that he would not be able to get her the requested evening-wear. The PFAI boss recalls the encounter as an example of how direct the Dutch manager could be. âIt may be a cultural thing but there are no edges with her, itâs very direct,â he said.
Feted as the RTĂ sport manager of the year in 2022 for guiding the womenâs team to its first World Cup this year, Pauw has since had a rapid fall from grace.
A terse statement issued by the FAI last Tuesday at 10.45pm announced her departure. The decision by the FAI board has left many supporters baffled as to why Pauw was dumped when the womenâs team has never been ranked higher in the world.
A Sunday Independent poll today reveals that 52pc of people think the FAI made the wrong decision and just 19pc agreed with the move.
Vera Pauw: âFAI asked was I garda vetted and I fell off my chairâ
Shane Ross: FAI caught in the crossfire between players and coach Vera Pauw
So, just why has Pauw been removed from her role and what does it mean for Irish womenâs football?
Pauwâs stock with the FAI reached its zenith in the aftermath of Irelandâs 1-0 victory over Scotland in Glasgow last October.
Not only had Pauw plotted Irelandâs route to its first Fifa Womenâs World Cup but her thoughtful and frank apology on behalf of the squad for its âUp the âRaâ post-match celebrations had also helped defuse what was turning into a damaging episode for the team and the FAI.
Following her public allegations of historic rape and sexual assault in July 2022 against coaches in the KNVB, the Dutch football association, Pauwâs public profile in Ireland is greater than any of her players bar captain Katie McCabe.
Up to last December Pauw was almost universally well regarded by the Irish public. However, her reputation took a hit with the publication of a US investigation into the behaviour of a number of club coaches.
This led the Houston Dash to apologise for how Pauw treated players in her one year managing the team from 2017 to 2018.
Pauw was found to have âshamedâ players for their weight, including a woman who had an eating disorder, and to have exerted excessive control over their eating habits.
The Dutch manager denied the findings and said the investigation was unfair. She was strongly backed by the FAI and Roy Barrett, its chairman, who attacked the investigation process.
With Ireland ramping up for its first Womenâs World Cup, Pauw and two of her players were the grand marshals of Dublinâs St Patrickâs Day parade.
While Pauw revelled in the public goodwill, Jonathan Hill, the FAIâs chief executive since October 2020, had told the media in January that contract negotiations with the Dutch manager would happen after the World Cup.
Although Pauwâs contract was due to expire at the end of August, Hill said they had agreed to concentrate on World Cup tournament preparations.
While Hill is attempting to bring Irish football on a quantum leap of progress through a âŹ863m investment strategy that requires 60pc of its funds to come from the Government, the FAI is still blighted by hangovers from the John Delaney era and problems the new management team have failed to grapple with.
The treatment of Pauw and the controversy it has generated does not help the FAI secure investment from the Government or sponsors.
One respected Irish football source who works internationally said: âI feel there has been a complete mismanagement of the situation and a lack of professionalism and leadership shown by many leadership figures.
âIt is fiercely detrimental to the reputation, brand and opportunity for growth for the womenâs game here.â
Much of the chasm that opened up between Hill and Pauw over the last year is a result of her engagement with media over the Houston Dash story.
Insiders say the FAIâs inability to manage this issue is partly a result of the dysfunction at the heart of its public relations division.
One of Delaneyâs last hires as FAI chief executive in March 2019 was to bring in Cathal Dervan, an experienced newspaper sports reporter and editor, to become the FAIâs director of public relations and communications.
Dervan, who was ghostwriter of Mick McCarthyâs Irelandâs World Cup 2002 book, has been effectively frozen out of duties around the menâs national team after a falling out with Stephen Kenny, McCarthyâs successor.
He was further sidelined by Hill when he recruited Louise Cassidy from Dunnes Stores as the FAIâs marketing and communications director. Responsibility for the media duties for the womenâs team has lain with Gareth Maher, a more junior member of the FAI media team.
FAI sources say that Hill warned Pauw not to engage with an Athletic article on her time at the Houston Dash. Instead, she provided a video interview to its reporters and her rebuttals were used in a 7,279-word article which detailed fresh damaging allegations against Pauw from four former players and three former staff from the Dash team.
One former player quoted in the article labelled Pauw âthe most terrible coach Iâve ever hadâ while another said she âcreated a culture of fearâ.â
Much of the conflict revolved around Pauwâs adherence to the âperiodisationâ coaching philosophy developed by Dutch trainer Raymond Verheijen, someone she calls âthe best in the worldâ.
Verheijen, who was assistant manager of Wales under Gary Speed and who has coached at a number of top clubs across Europe, is probably best known for his blistering social media attacks on managers such as David Moyes and Jurgen Klopp. He has accused both of overtraining their players and causing a spate of injuries.
Pauw is a fervent disciple of Verheijenâs periodisation philosophy which calls for teams to train together in planned cycles to improve football intelligence and team communications.
This means that individual weight training or running is almost forbidden.
The Houston Dash players spoke about a series of occasions when Pauw allegedly reacted angrily to players carrying out extra fitness training.
FAI sources say Hill told Pauw not to further discuss the Athletic article at a joint press conference that July week with Katie McCabe. The media event was held to promote the Irish teamâs farewell match against France before the World Cup.
However, McCabe was visibly frustrated that some 20 of the 27-minute press conference focussed on the allegations against Pauw. The Irish manager read a prepared note of support she had received translated from a Dutch journalist in answer to the first question and spoke about her need to keep fighting the âliesâ.
As a direct result of what was seen as Pauw ignoring Hillâs instruction, the English CEO paused contract discussions that had opened with Ciaran Medlar, an executive from BDO who represents Pauw. Medlar, the chairman of Shamrock Rovers, has also represented the womenâs and menâs teams in pay talks.
The World Cup was a fraught affair with Ireland losing both its opening games, ensuring its final match draw with Nigeria was meaningless. It still produced a remarkable row between Pauw and McCabe who was clearly asking for substitutions to be made.
When Pauw confirmed in a post-match press conference that McCabe was looking for a named teammate to be substituted, McCabe responded with mouth-zipped closed emoji on Twitter (now X).
The very public incident revealed a clear a rift between the players and Pauw. Privately, the team was convinced Pauw was incapable of taking them to the next level.â
Marc Canham, the FAIâs director of football who was recruited by Hill, was tasked with carrying out a World Cup review that was to be presented to the full FAI board before it decided to offer Pauw a new contract.
The report, based on a series of interviews with players, staff and Pauw herself, was almost entirely negative for the Dutch coach.
The board members are said the have been shocked and unhappy to learn about the breakdown in communication and trust between Hill and Pauw over the last six months.
While the breakdown in the relationship between Pauw and the players was obvious, the board was not informed in advance of the fractured relationship between Hill and Pauw.
The feedback from the players and her backroom staff was bad. Players complained that their clubs were unhappy with them for failing to keep up with individual fitness regimes while on international duty.
Pauw, with her strict adherence to the Verheijenâs periodisation philosophy, was said to be âignoring sports scienceâ. She insisted her methods prevented injuries.
Packie Bonner, the former Ireland goalkeeper and Uefa technical observer who is now on the FAI board, told fellow members he felt Pauwâs methods appeared âoutdatedâ.
Although the FAI has staff to carry out opposition analysis which has previously been acclaimed for helping players score against Scotland and Sweden, some players complained Pauw was not passing on the information.
Team members complained that their only instruction on set pieces was to aim for the tallest player.
Some who played in the World Cup match against Canada said they were unaware that Pauw had made a substitution at half-time and were not advised as to how this would affect their formation.
Pauw was said to be so controlling that Tom Elmes, her assistant manager, felt frozen out. Jan Willem Van Ede, her goalkeeping coach, was believed to have had more influence than Elmes as part of a Dutch/Irish divide among the staff. Pauw is also said to have got a negative review from the teamâs Irish medical staff.
Pauwâs noted defensive set-up coupled with her adherence to a niche style of coaching was noted by Canham to be out of step with all the Irish underage womenâs teams. He recommended the FAI seek a coach who would ensure there is continuity in the training and playing philosophy deployed.
Canham and Hill had travelled to Amsterdam to interview Pauw for four hours. She was surprised about the extent of the negative feedback from players and backroom staff.
Pauw maintained that the team âoverachievedâ under her management and complained that the presence of FAI management around the squad in Australia had undermined her authority.
Most board members who came into the meeting thinking that âVera could walk on waterâ felt compelled to back Hillâs and Canhamâs judgment that they should seek a replacement.
Some proposed giving Pauw a contract extension offer of six or 12 months that would be conditional on her âchanging her waysâ but this was dismissed as unrealistic. One board member out of 11 abstained in a vote backing the recommendation to not renew Pauwâs contract.
The Dutch coach had asked for the decision to put in writing and emailed to her and that was how she was informed that she was out of a job.â
On Thursday, Pauw released a statement outlining how she felt undermined by the âinterference of the executives in technical football affairsâ. She complained that Canhamâs review was âflawed and that the outcome was pre-determinedâ.
In an interview with RTĂ on Friday she made further complaints about the conduct of FAI executives and her backroom team at the World Cup. The FAI said Hill will not answer questions until after September 10, when Irelandâs men team play Holland.
Pauw had one final small victory over the FAI on Friday. Before the World Cup she was booked to speak at an Irish Grocers Benevolent Fund dinner in the Aviva Stadium by Eoin Kellett, managing director of Mondelez Ireland, the owner of Cadbury, a key FAI sponsor.
There was some expectation in the FAI that Eileen Gleeson, Pauwâs former assistant, who was promoted to head of womenâs football last year, would be asked to attend in Pauwâs place as she is now the interim womenâs team manager.
However, despite being at the eye of a storm, Pauw flew in to honour her commitment. She will miss out on leading the women in their historic first game at the Aviva on September 23. It will be a small consolation that after she finished her Q&A with host Des Cahill, the Irish crowd gave her a spontaneous standing ovation.
Saw a clip there on the news where a withered looking veteran called Dianne Caldwell said Ireland achieved everything they did in spite of Vera and that her in game management was poor. The Irish team are coming out very badly from this. A nasty comment by Caldwell about the woman who took Ireland to their first ever major tournament.
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They are going in now with the studs up on her.
Didnât realise that balloon Cathal Dervan was employed by the FAI. Could they not give it Roy Curtis
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Strange approach to take
Setting up the team for a fall
They should kick now that the manager that was holding them back is gone.
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They have some very good players but were haunted to make the finals,
Perhaps the players are right.
Youâd have to think that nothing more than a 4-0 win will be acceptable for Ireland vâs Northern Ireland