@Jennifer1984 Said
We had a terrific female manager, Hope Powell...But she made enemies in the establishment and they threw her out and her replacement took all the credit for the crop of brilliant players she nurtured from rock bottom and who are in the team now as top professionals.
Ah yes, poor Hope Powell. You seem to be of the belief that she was unfairly sacked as manager. The simple truth however is that Powell was sacked because all managers are ultimately judged by the performance of the team under their control. In her last tournament in charge of the English women's team (the women's European Championships) ENGLAND FINISHED BOTTOM OF ALL NATIONS. Her team finished winless having scored a total of 3 goals in 3 games whilst conceding 7. That was understandably not considered an acceptable result. It was also clear that she had lost at least some of the locker room with players complaining about her ruthless, autocratic rule.
Her man management skills were sorely lacking as she fell out with a number of players. Lianne Sanderson for example retired from international football at the age of just 22, blaming irreconcilable differences with Powell: "As long as Hope Powell is in charge I don't see myself going back and I don't think she would want me there."
Another player, Becky Easton, tweeted "If you questioned, disagreed or in anyway upset her...you would be banished for life." Everton's Jody Handley also had her say and wrote: "Only good thing to come from the tournament and media exposure is that finally people are speaking up!"
Leading up to, during and immediately after the disastrous women's Euros people questioned Powel's decision making. They wondered for example why Natasha Dowie, the WSL's leading scorer at the time, wasn't selected. They questioned Powel's lack of time spent watching players from outside of her established squad. And, as England desperately scrambled for survival in Sweden, questions were asked as to why Powell had insisted on selecting six injured players for her squad and sticking with them instead of selecting players like Jordan Nobbs.
Powel had more control over all aspects relating to her national team than any manager of the men's team in the modern era, and in the end she was held accountable for her teams performance. In Sweden England lost to Spain and then failed to defeat Russia, the lowest ranked team in the competition. Against France England were completely outclassed losing 3-0. Nearly an hour into the game and the French had had 11 shots on goal. England had had none!
No male manager would survive such as disastrous Euros performance as England's womens team endured under Powel, and yet you seem to think that because she wasnt given special treatment after the Euros that this amounts to evidence of sexism! Turn it up.