Durhamfootman wrote:The players hated him. 15 players refused to play under his regime, citing his methods and approach
I am not sure if that is true, DFM. Originally some players approached the board with some issues about his management, and then in the subsequent press conference, explained they did not want him to be sacked, but wanted some changes to his management style, without giving reasons. Then about three weeks later, the players released the same letter explaining they wouldn't play.... but at no stage did they give any specific reasons or examples of problems they had with him, and simply said that working with him was detrimental to their mental well being.
Later on, various leaks seemed to indicate that they didn't like his strictness, again without any specific examples or evidence - then, it changed to the fact that many players felt he was just a bad manager, having been appointed many years previous when Woman's football was still amateurish, and that many people felt with the rise of the woman's game they could do better.
Finally, as the WC came to a conclusion, some specific examples started to creep out after the whole kiss fiasco 1. that the woman's team were not getting equal treatment to the mens team, which is outside of the control of Vilda who is just a manager. 2. That he had sent his assistants to check on his players at hotels to ensure they were in their rooms when they should have been. 3. A suggestion that players were subjected in the past to baggage searches at training, but no context or evidence was provided. These accusations have been used to paint Vilda as some sort of Stalinist weirdo control freak. Other more generic criticisms like he was sexist, a strict disciplinarian, etc - nothing. Not a single example with specifics or context was provided.
These accusations have subsequently been partially disproven - it seems that Vilda did have a policy to impose curfews and checks on the players, BUT these had ceased for many years and only really occurred when he took the job, and had ceased long before the players revolted. Considering this was the smoking gun reason the players stumped up, its doesn't do much favours to their argument to find out it wasn't exactly true, and such actions were no longer being done in the team. Even if they were true, I find it interesting in the context of elite sport that such accusations about discipline would even be a story...... Didn't Southgate boot Mason Greenwood and Foden out of the squad in Iceland for trying to shag some Icelandic models when they should have been in bed?
In fact, in American sports, such curfews are standard. NFL teams have coaches routinely check they are in their rooms, and they have lights out times. Andrew Strauss implemented a curfew for England cricket team, they had to be in their rooms before midnight. Alex Ferguson was notorious for turning up in nightclubs or house parties to find his players who had buggered off on a night out before a game ... famously dragging Ryan Giggs by his ear out of some woman's bed at a house party he and Lee Sharpe went to. In fact, its now absolutely standard for home teams to also stay in hotels the night before games so curfews can be adhered to and players monitored.
Why would this example be at representative of something abnormal, even less, draconian?
I think the irony is, in trying to show empathy towards woman's footballers, we do in fact treat them unequally. If England's or Spain's male national team came together and refused to play for the country, citing some vague nonsense about the manager being strict, and insisting on a high level of discipline, they would be vilified as rich, entitled brats who didnt care about their country. The best selling national daily paper advocated in 2010 that the English male team should be sent to fight in Helmand after they were knocked out by Germany, because they were too weak. People agreed....
I don't think many managers get far without installing discipline in their sides. There are some exceptions, with some managers like Klopp also having good relationships with players, but even Klopp sacked his best friend and assistant of 20 years after a game where he apparently didn't wrap himself in tactical analysis at half time v Stoke. So you can be a nicer guy to the public, but the standards still have to be elite level in terms of work, professionalism and expectations.
To me, it all feels like a bit of a witch hunt. And its not a good look for womans football that, in an age of increased professionalism, elite level players came out to complain about being pushed.
Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 9:46 pm
