Spanish Women's NT | 15 players walk out over manager

jojojo

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Yesterday the emails notifying the players that they are shortlisted for the next set of Spain matches (early October) went out. 15 sent replies saying if Jorge Vilda is the manager they don't want to play. The 15 includes United's players - Ona Batlle and Lucia Garcia.

During the last international break - a group senior players asked RFEF (the Spanish FA) to replace Vilde. The FA said no, but there has been a suggestion that some kind of deal might get done. Nothing happened.

The 15:
  1. Ainhoa Moraza, defensa del Atlético de Madrid e internacional desde 2020.
  2. Patri Guijarro, centrocampista del FC Barcelona e internacional desde 2017.
  3. Leila Ouahabi, defensa del Manchester City e internacional desde 2016.
  4. Lucía García, delantera del Manchester United e internacional desde 2018.
  5. Mapi León, defensa del FC Barcelona e internacional desde 2016.
  6. Ona Batlle, defensa del Manchester United e internacional desde 2019.
  7. Laia Aleixandri, defensa del Manchester City e internacional desde 2019.
  8. Claudia Pina, delantera del FC Barcelona e internacional desde 2021.
  9. Aitana Bonmatí, centrocampista del FC Barcelona e internacional desde 2017.
  10. Andrea Pereira, defensa del América mexicano e internacional desde 2016.
  11. Mariona Caldentey, delantera del FC Barcelona e internacional desde 2017.
  12. Sandra Paños, portera del FC Barcelona e internacional desde 2011.
  13. Lola Gallardo, portera del Atlético de Madrid e internacional desde 2013.
  14. Nerea Eizaguirre, centrocampista de la Real Sociedad e internacional desde 2020.
  15. Amaiur Sarriegi, delantera de la Real Sociedad e internacional desde 2021.
Alexia Putellas isn't on that list, but that may be because she's got a long-term injury (therefore not called up) - she was part of that senior players group who asked the FA to remove him.

Jorge Vilda has been the manager of Spain's women's team for the past 7 years. He's only ever worked as a coach for the Spanish FA and his only trophies came when he worked with his dad (who previously worked with Cruyff at Barcelona) for the Spanish U17 girls team in 2010/11.
 

Melbourne Red

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It sounds like there are some vital details missing from this story. :confused:
 

Melbourne Red

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I'll take "unsolicited dick pics/inappropriate touching" for 400, Alex.
 

Champ

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Not sure who to side with here.

The players surely can't be picking and choosing the manager, but if the gaffer has truly done something wrong or needs to be held accountable for something then I'd understand more.
However nothing has been legislated at the manager from what I gather and the Spanish FA are siding with the manager, making it look like he hasn't actually done anything wrong.
Strange.
 

Niemans

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Not sure who to side with here.

The players surely can't be picking and choosing the manager, but if the gaffer has truly done something wrong or needs to be held accountable for something then I'd understand more.
However nothing has been legislated at the manager from what I gather and the Spanish FA are siding with the manager, making it look like he hasn't actually done anything wrong.
Strange.
The Barcelona players have already rebelled against the Barcelona coach after winning the treble.
And Barcelona kicked out the coach.
 

SilentWitness

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What’s the reasoning behind them wanting him gone?
 

jojojo

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Multiple threads to the story really.

Fundamentally though, he's accused of being out of date and out of time - old training methods, stale tactics and lack of pre-match planning. A lot of debate around training injuries and playing injured players as well - but that's a typical accusation with most national teams.

7 years in the job and not won anything. From the perspective of the team - their confidence is going down and he's getting more arrogant.

It's believed the Real Madrid players haven't sent the same kind of emails because the club asked them not to. Which of course, send people down all kinds of conspiracy tracks about whether there's a "fast track" planned for RM junior players getting into the national U17/19 team...
 

jojojo

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Adisa

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Allowing this kind of revolt to work is a slippery slope for any organisation.
 

SilentWitness

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Thanks for that @jojojo . While it seems like the players have valid points it does become a tricky situation when you allow players to become so powerful in decision making. Seems more complicated than that though and is probably a case where the manager should be sacked but you can't do it like this.
 

antk

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When 15 of your subordinates hate you enough to go on strike (especially when it puts part of their own careers in jeopardy), 99% of the time you should probably do something else with your life.

Players will probably need to explain their grievances publicly though.
 

Jaae

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So basically they don't rate the manager and they're literally striking until he's sacked. Pretty disgraceful behaviour. Lots of players get criticised for supposed 'downing tools' but this is another level.

These women need to be put back in to their place.

hehehehe
 

Vapor trail

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Players should never dictate the terms of any managers tenure. Understandable if the manager underperforms and loses the confidence of the federation but a totally different scenario is being presented.

Maybe due to the size of women's football and a lack of history there's a lack of pride (can't find a better word) in the national team. It should always be considered a privilege to represent a country in a sporting industry because typically many would aspire to do so.
 

Baneofthegame

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Don’t agree with it to be honest if there are no underlying issues other than performance, which is the job of the federation to decide.
 

duffer

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They should've just played like shit for months while leaking stories to the press to get the guy fired, same as the men do when they don't like the manager.
 

sullydnl

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Assuming it's just for footballing reasons, the question I'd have is why it got to this point?

There's a good reason managers generally lose their job when the dressing turns against them, continuing on becomes unsustainable at that point. And the players haven't gone from zero to refusing to play overnight. So I'm not sure why the manager didn't just lose his job before now as would normally happen?

It's fine to say "they shouldn't cave in to the players who have gone on strike" but the way football typically works is that the people with the power to remove the manager listen to the players long before it reaches the point where players are that disillusioned. So why didn't that happen here? It seems the people in charge were atypically stubborn in sticking with the manager, or atypically dismissive of the players.

The easiest solution would have been just to get rid of the manager once it became clear that he had lost the players to such an extent and move on.
 

diarm

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They should've left out the bit about apologising and getting back in. What happens if your man retires now or they do end up sacking him? The players apologise and get selected again?

Screw that - playing for your country should be an honour. If I was the Spanish FA, I'd hire a world class manager and leave them on the outside looking in.
 

footballbite

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Can anyone recall anything similar happening in high level men's football?
 

Iker Quesadillas

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Assuming it's just for footballing reasons, the question I'd have is why it got to this point?

There's a good reason managers generally lose their job when the dressing turns against them, continuing on becomes unsustainable at that point. And the players haven't gone from zero to refusing to play overnight. So I'm not sure why the manager didn't just lose his job before now as would normally happen?
It's not taken seriously at all, because it's women's football.

The previous manager had the job for 27 years. He didn't win anything and would tell players things like "what you need is a man" or "you're looking fat." The players ousted him, more or less, but the job was given to the son of the guy who used to coach the under 17/19s.

It's basically "jobs for the boys" and the people in charge are counting on having much more power than players who most people don't know.
 

phelans shorts

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It's not taken seriously at all, because it's women's football.

The previous manager had the job for 27 years. He didn't win anything and would tell players things like "what you need is a man" or "you're looking fat." The job of NT for under 17/19 was given to Angel Vilda and the current manager for the NT is his son, Jorge Vilda, who's had the job since 2015.

It's basically "jobs for the boys."
Yeah that’s my thoughts on reading lots of this thread, it’s clear that Spain hasn’t been taking the WNT seriously at all, looking at the names Spain can put out not even being particularly competitive on the major stage is pretty scandalous. God only know how amateur hour the training sessions are while the rest of the world is upping the professionalism at a massive rate.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and I can’t say I disagree with the players on the face of it.
 

redshaw

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I can see how this happens with how the women's game is transitioning to a higher profile and professionalism and how other nations are leading the way.

Spain in general has dominated football for 20 years with players and coaches so it sounds like the women's side is long overdue.
 

Lightbringer

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Just to add, RFEF have responded to the emails by saying the players who sent them won't be considered for selection again until they apologise and admit that they behaved inappropriately.

Here's Sid Lowe covering the story for the Guardian and saving me a lot of time translating the various quotes :smirk:
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...tball-refuse-play-oust-head-coach-jorge-vilda
As long as it means Ona and Garcia gets extra breaks and is rested for Uniteds games I dont mind this at all ;)
 

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Inappropriate Comment
They should've just played like shit for months while leaking stories to the press to get the guy fired, same as the men do when they don't like the manager.
This.

TBH these women should have thought a little bit more on their strategy. Kicking out a manager ain’t so difficult and even if this Vilda guy is lame or has his job due to nepotism, along with shitty results they could have come up with him doing other stuff, if you know what I mean; and I assume will eventually come out. But doing it this way would have been an easier hit to digest from the Federation than how they actually did it.
 

phelans shorts

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This.

TBH these women should have thought a little bit more on their strategy. Kicking out a manager ain’t so difficult and even if this Vilda guy is lame or has his job due to nepotism, along with shitty results they could have come up with him doing other stuff, if you know what I mean; and I assume will eventually come out. But doing it this way would have been an easier hit to digest from the Federation than how they actually did it.
What the absolute feck
 

Niemans

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Multiple threads to the story really.

Fundamentally though, he's accused of being out of date and out of time - old training methods, stale tactics and lack of pre-match planning. A lot of debate around training injuries and playing injured players as well - but that's a typical accusation with most national teams.

7 years in the job and not won anything. From the perspective of the team - their confidence is going down and he's getting more arrogant.

It's believed the Real Madrid players haven't sent the same kind of emails because the club asked them not to. Which of course, send people down all kinds of conspiracy tracks about whether there's a "fast track" planned for RM junior players getting into the national U17/19 team...
Thanks for that @jojojo . While it seems like the players have valid points it does become a tricky situation when you allow players to become so powerful in decision making. Seems more complicated than that though and is probably a case where the manager should be sacked but you can't do it like this.
The Barcelona players already did it a little more than a year ago to kick out the coach.

"The manager had agreed a contract extension at the start of May but there have been some reports suggesting disagreements with the players. No replacement has been announced.
Barcelona secured the Champions League title for the first time in the club’s history with a 4-0 win against Chelsea in the final. They also won the league title by 25 points, winning 33 of 34 league matches."
 

Elpidios

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This.

TBH these women should have thought a little bit more on their strategy. Kicking out a manager ain’t so difficult and even if this Vilda guy is lame or has his job due to nepotism, along with shitty results they could have come up with him doing other stuff, if you know what I mean; and I assume will eventually come out. But doing it this way would have been an easier hit to digest from the Federation than how they actually did it.
Imagine you were bad at your job and instead of being told that you're bad at your job, you're accused of sexual harassment and misconduct, how would you feel?
 

padr81

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Ah someone suggesting the old "want the manager sacked so accuse him of being a bit rapey" routine... Jesus wept. How someone can post that is beyond me.

Players are totally in the wrong regardless of how incompetent he is. End of. Imagine if the United squad pulled this shit with Ole or England with Southgate. He might be terrible but its a bunch of players overrating themselves and not wanting to acknowledge they're part of the failure. Did alot of them do this at Barca too?
 

tomaldinho1

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As it is the national team, I actually think this is fine albeit they have gone about it all wrong. If you don't want to play under a manager for any reason, you shouldn't have to when it's not your contracted domestic club. They can't call for his dismissal but it sounds like he's a) not very good and b) in the job through his family ties so they should be allowed to take themselves out of consideration for selection. If they'd done that and all 15 had not made this an act of open insubordination, he'd probably be gone already.
 

phelans shorts

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Ah someone suggesting the old "want the manager sacked so accuse him of being a bit rapey" routine... Jesus wept. How someone can post that is beyond me.

Players are totally in the wrong regardless of how incompetent he is. End of. Imagine if the United squad pulled this shit with Ole or England with Southgate. He might be terrible but its a bunch of players overrating themselves and not wanting to acknowledge they're part of the failure. Did alot of them do this at Barca too?
They’d have been sacked long before it hit this point. You’re ignoring all the context of the total top down mismanagement.
 

phelans shorts

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As it is the national team, I actually think this is fine albeit they have gone about it all wrong. If you don't want to play under a manager for any reason, you shouldn't have to when it's not your contracted domestic club. They can't call for his dismissal but it sounds like he's a) not very good and b) in the job through his family ties so they should be allowed to take themselves out of consideration for selection. If they'd done that and all 15 had not made this an act of open insubordination, he'd probably be gone already.
They literally did a month ago. The FA said they’d do something and they haven’t, which led to this move.