by The crisis surrounding close relationships between coaches and players in women’s football has escalated after Telegraph Sport learned of at least 36 cases in the wake of Jonathan Morgan’s sacking.
The issue has drawn public attention following Morgan’s resignation from Sheffield United’s Women’s Championship team at the start of February. He admitted to having a relationship with a teenage Leicester City player while he was in charge of the club.
Since Morgan’s departure, Telegraph Sport has received further reports on the many relationships between players and coaches in the top six tiers of the English women’s league pyramid.
They include relationships between backroom coaching staff and players, as well as between managers or head coaches and players.
All 36 people are said to be adults, and many have been described as “consensual” and “loving”. However, in many cases, players have told Telegraph Sport that the relationships have affected squad dynamics or morale. Others described situations in their own club as “unprofessional”.
Many of the alleged cases involve female coaches in same-sex relationships, but for legal reasons relating to their right to privacy regarding their sexuality, they cannot be named.
The issue came to a head last Friday when Leicester City Women manager Willie Kirk was suspended pending an investigation into an allegation that he was involved in a relationship with a player. Kirk has not commented on the allegation, with Leicester saying Kirk is assisting the club with an “internal process”.
Assistant manager Jennifer Foster took charge of last Saturday’s Women’s FA Cup final win at Liverpool with less than 24 hours’ notice, and held a pre-match press conference on Thursday with her still in charge and Kirk suspended.
A number of Women’s Super League managers criticized the relationship between coaches and players in football this week. Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said the relationship between the team-mates was inappropriate and her comments prompted a response from one of her own players. Defender Jess Carter, who is in a relationship with Germany and Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, liked a post on X which described Hayes’ comments as “beyond bonkers”.
Hayes tried to clarify her comments on Friday night, saying: “I spoke to her [Carter]. This is all I’m going to say on it. I don’t want to create any more clickbait headlines. I think that happens sometimes, when we have honest conversations about things, so of course I’m disappointed about that. Jess and I had a chat today, as I have with other players within the team.
“They know exactly who I am and they know exactly what I was thinking. But I have to hope that I’m supposed to be the most well-educated headline coach, no clickbait, and let me down yesterday. I didn’t think it was right for me to use the term ‘inappropriate’ for the players.
“However, when we have honest conversations about these things, I don’t take those things back, but I don’t criticize any player in my dressing room for anything. Their professionalism, for what they gave to the club regardless of their status, regardless of who they are in a relationship with, I gave a lot of support to all the players. I am a champion of equality and equity.
“As I say to my players, even if we have disagreements in life, we must not play them out in public, we must have those conversations with each other, because it is an important thing that you should do in the workplace and everyone understands that. . And I think you saw from the performance tonight that everyone is totally invested in what we’re doing. Great performance from everyone, including Jess.”
Former Manchester United manager Casey Stoney, who is the head coach of San Diego Wave FC in the United States, said that relationships between players and coaches should “never” develop and “shouldn’t even be debated here”. Aston Villa manager Carla Ward said the relationship between players and coaches was “unacceptable”, while Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall slammed Hayes’ comments and labeled them “very inappropriate”.
There is no formal ban on relationships between players and coaches, in cases involving adults, but some clubs across the top six leagues are understood to have codes of conduct that discourage, if not ban, such relationships.
Some players, speaking to Telegraph Sport, are concerned about the inconsistency of different guidance at different clubs they have played for in their careers. Several of the lower league players said their contracts do not mention the issue at all.
Apart from relationships between players and coaches, a large number of player-player relationships are already publicly known in the women’s game, including high-profile examples such as that between Arsenal teammates Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, who discussed Mead long i. her autobiography.
A spokesperson for the Football Association told Telegraph Sport: “The WSL and Women’s Championship clubs have a responsibility to implement their own codes of staff and player conduct.
“Codes of conduct will be created in line with each club’s individual HR policies and employment guidelines, and are expected to cover appropriate boundaries in professional relationships.
“The players’ contracts and the league’s mandated ‘Unacceptable Conduct Policy’ provide an appropriate framework for players to make any grievance or complaint.”
