Noel King is the former manager of Ireland’s women’s national team, and he’s not happy with Tuesday’s press conference.
Noel King appeared on Morning Ireland on Tuesday morning and tore into the players’ claims that they were being treated as ‘fifth class citizens’ and that they were the ‘dirt on the shoe’ of the FAI.
The threat of a strike by the players ahead of next week’s friendly against Slovakia remains after they called out the fact that they were forced to share tracksuits with under-age teams, change in airport toilets, that they were not compensated for loss of earnings while on international trips and that they were not being treated on a par with the men’s team.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, King said the comments were “outrageous” and “completely wrong”.
Former manager Noel King describes comments by a solicitor representing the Ireland women's team as "outrageous" and "completely wrong" pic.twitter.com/Q8jNjCBLy0
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 5, 2017
The response to King’s interview was furious, to say the least.
Noel King, why is the solicitor wrong? The only 1 who is outrageous is you! Some of your comments beggar belief #morningireland @FAIWomen
— Miche Mac (@AnFuiseog) April 5, 2017
Noel King toeing the party line… So he thinks it's ok that our women's soccer team share tracksuits, change in public toilets… #irlwnt
— Killian Whelan (@Killian_Whelan) April 5, 2017
At the end of the interview, King compared the treatment of the women’s side to that of Ireland’s under-21s, which clearly contradicted his earlier claim that the women were on a par with the senior men’s side.
Noel King response on Morning Ireland re how badly the Women's team are funded was pathetic; comparing his U21's to the Women's team a joke!
— closing time (@closingtime4) April 5, 2017
Noel King on @morningireland more upset at how @FAIreland said to be treating women pro players badly than at how the players are treated.
— Lian Bell (@lianbell) April 5, 2017
