New Women's football thread (inc World Cup) 2023-26

[Durhamfootman]

His position is so obviously untenable that the cynic in me thinks he's holding out for some sort of payment to go away.

To$$er.

well...... yes, absolutely

[Durhamfootman]

now the Spanish Football Federation, of which he is the president, have said they are going to take legal action over Jenni Hermoso's 'lies'

it's absolutely astonishing

[Durhamfootman]

There had been some suggestions from some quarters in Spain that this might turn out to be their 'me too' moment

well if it wasn't before, it will be now

[Durhamfootman]

Ha.... they've also said that the players, both men and women have 'an obligation' to represent their national side

hey... if you're going to light a fire under spanish football you might as well throw petrol on it and make it a *modded* big one

[Durhamfootman]

FIFA have stepped into the row and provisionally suspended Rubiales for 90 days pending disciplinary proceedings. They've also ordered him and his federation away from making any attempts to contact Hermoso in that time

The vice president of the fed has resigned in protest at Rubiales refusing to resign

[Durhamfootman]

His position is so obviously untenable that the cynic in me thinks he's holding out for some sort of payment to go away.

To$$er.

yes well that won't be the case now unless he cuts some kind of deal to go away quietly and public sentiment might preclude that anyway. Looking more likely that he'll end up being dismissed for gross or serious misconduct and lose his right to anything, I reckon.... so he's also stupid as well as being a tw@t

[Durhamfootman]

Spain's entire WC coaching staff have resigned over Rubiales except one........ Vilda (of course)

[Durhamfootman]

even the Spain men's coach de la Fuente has seen the writing on the wall and decided to start criticising Rubiales, just 24 hours after applauding his 'not gonna resign' speech

[sussexpob]

Lost in all of the Spanish FA's troubles, hardly anyone has said anything about the English FA President deciding the Woman's Football World Cup final wasnt an event worthy of him wasting his time travelling to..... a man who's only job is, er.... to be paid millions by the public to turn up to events and wave.

I guess if the papers would have lingered on that, they'd get arrested nowadays for offending royalists or some s***

[Durhamfootman]

even the Spain men's coach de la Fuente has seen the writing on the wall and decided to start criticising Rubiales, just 24 hours after applauding his 'not gonna resign' speech

as has Vilda, so the writing must definitely be on the wall

[Durhamfootman]

Now Rubiales has persuaded his mother to go on hunger strike until everyone leaves him alone and tells him it's okay



honestly, you couldn't make all this up

[Durhamfootman]

Vilda sacked

Rubiales next?

[Gingerfinch]

Vilda sacked

Rubiales next?

What has Vilda done?

[Durhamfootman]

The players hated him. 15 players refused to play under his regime, citing his methods and approach. Rubiales backed him to the hilt immediately without questioning anything afaik and Vilda enthusiastically applauded Rubiales when he made his ‘everyone’s lying, stupid, idiot’ speech. Vilda’s sacking is perhaps a statement that finally the players are going to be listened to, instead of being told to shut up and do as they are told. Only recently they were told that they couldn’t refuse to play for their country, because they were obliged to play regardless of what they felt about anything….. or words to that effect.

[sussexpob]

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.