Kenny Shiels: Football manager sparks row by claiming women are more emotional than men
The manager of the Northern Ireland women’s football team, Kenny Shiels, has claimed that it is difficult to stop women’s teams conceding one goal after another because they are “more emotional than men”.
Shiels, who is due to lead the team in their major tournament debut at Euro 2022 this summer, said an “emotional imbalance” was an issue “right through the whole spectrum of the women’s game”.
The 65-year-old was speaking after Northern Ireland conceded four second-half goals in a 5-0 defeat to England in Belfast that ended their hopes of qualifying for the next World Cup.
“I felt [England] were struggling a wee bit at times to open us up until the psychology of going 2-0 up in the women’s game,” said Shiels on Tuesday night.
“I’m sure you will have noticed if you go through the patterns – when a team concedes a goal, they concede a second one in a very, very short space of time.
“Right through the whole spectrum of the women’s game, because girls and women are more emotional than men. So, they take a goal going in not very well.
“When we went 1-0 down we tried to slow it down to give them time to get that emotional imbalance out of their heads.
“That’s an issue we have. Not just in Northern Ireland but all of the countries in the world.”
Former Derry City and Kilmarnock manager Shiels’ comments attracted anger and dismay on social media, with some calling for him to step down
The controversy further tainted a record-breaking night, with the crowd of more than 15,000 at Windsor Park in Belfast setting a new national attendance record for a women’s football match.