The Women’s Premier League is approaching its definition with Chelsea and Manchester City tied on points with five games to go, while Bristol City would be the team to be relegated. Beyond this brief analysis, the tournament moved away from football in the last few hours due to the situation experienced in a club that fired the coach, accused of having a relationship with one of its players.
On March 8, the English newspaper The Guardian had revealed the beginning of an investigation against the Leicester City first team coach, Willie Kirk, for an accusation about an “alleged relationship with a player”, whose identity was not reported. He was suspended from office until today, because the Foxes officially announced his departure: “After an extensive internal disciplinary process and respecting the club’s obligations regarding individual privacy, it was determined that Willie had violated the team’s code of conduct. to a point that makes their position untenable.”
Kirk joined the entity in July 2022 in the role of Director of Football and was appointed technical director of the women’s team on November 3 of the same year, replacing Lydia Bedford. He caught the team in a difficult situation because they had recorded six games without scoring a point and, with him at the helm, they finished in tenth position among a dozen teams with 16 points, 5 points behind relegated Reading.
This is how the statement continues: “Established and implemented before the start of the current season, the code forms part of the Club’s continued commitment to professionalize women’s football since the acquisition of LCFC Women in 2020, promoting a performance-based culture among players, coaches and technical staff.”
The ensemble was directed by Jennifer Foster, with the support of Stephen Kirby. The woman made her debut in the 2-0 victory against Liverpool to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where she will play against Tottenham, but has accumulated two consecutive defeats at home against Spurs and Brighton. Likewise, permanence is almost assured because it has a 10-point lead over Bristol City (6) with 15 points left to play.
At the beginning of the disciplinary process, a Leicester spokesperson left his testimony in the European newspaper: “Willie Kirk is helping the club with an internal process, the results of which will be determined in due time”
This case revives what happened this season with Jonathan Morgan, who was dismissed from the Sheffield United women’s squad in the middle of a serious cause with a tragic outcome because the family of Maddy Cusack, a club player who took her own life at the age of 27, linked Morgan to an alleged case of workplace harassment and inappropriate behavior. He was cleared last December of an external investigation carried out by the English squad, but his cycle came to an end when The Athletic revealed that he had had a nearly three-year relationship with an underage player at Leicester. City. His representation agency, Tongue Tied Media, terminated his relationship with him.
Since what happened with Willie Kirk, two coaches were against the relationships between drivers and footballers, since the head of Aston Villa, Carla Ward, described this type of ties as “unacceptable” and Jonas Eidevall, manager of Arsenal , classified them as “very inappropriate.”
In line with this, the head of the England national team, Sarina Wiegmann, was asked about this topic in a conversation with the press: “I think player-coach relationships are very inappropriate. We shouldn’t accept that and it’s not healthy. Our environment is professional, performance is important and it must always be safe. Things can happen but it is inappropriate and we should all be very aware of that.”
“I think it’s common sense for a ban, we all know that if we’re in this environment, it’s really inappropriate, and I think if we all take responsibility, then things wouldn’t happen. But, when it happens, regulations are often needed,” he added.
Willie Kirk began his coaching career with Scotland’s Livingston Under 14s and rose to the Under 17s before joining Hibernian as manager of the same category in 2009. The following year, he became the coach of the women’s first team and, He then spent time at Preston, Bristol City, Manchester United (as Casey Stoney’s assistant) and Everton.
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