Section:GDN 1N PaGe:38 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 19:39 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Wednesday 21 Au g u st 2019
(^38) Sport
Football
MacDonald leaves Villa after
investigation into bullying
David Conn
The Aston Villa youth coach Kevin
MacDonald has left the club “with
immediate eff ect” following an inves-
tigation into allegations of bullying
made by a number of former young
players. Villa apologised to the former
players aff ected by the behaviour of
MacDonald, who was a youth and
reserve team coach in two spells over
a 25-year period from the mid-1990s,
and Villa said his conduct “would not
be tolerated by the club today”.
The investigation, conducted by
an independent barrister, Jack Mitch-
ell, was initiated by the club’s chief
executive, Christian Purslow, after
the Guardian published an interview
with the former Villa midfi elder Gareth
Farrelly in December.
Farrelly, who was at Villa from 1992
to 1997 then played in the Premier
League for Everton and Bolton and
made six international appearances
for the Republic of Ireland, called
MacDonald’s coaching regime “a cul-
ture of verbal and physical bullying”.
Farrelly, now a solicitor and recently
appointed to the panel of the court of
arbitration for sport, said he sank to
“extremely dark places,” including
thoughts of suicide, as a young player
struggling with MacDonald’s “relent-
lessly negative” approach.
In 2017 the Premier League upheld a
bullying complaint against MacDonald
made by a Villa player and his father
but Farrelly was prompted to speak
out because, he said, he was “incredu-
lous” that MacDonald had remained in
a coaching position at the club.
Following publication of the inter-
view with Farrelly several other
former Villa youth players spoke to the
Guardian describing similar treatment
by MacDonald and another coach,
Tony McAndrew, including negativity
and constant verbal abuse. MacDonald
remained as head of football develop-
ment at Villa until this week, though
he was removed from contact with
young players and was not subject
to the investigation. In December he
declined to comment on the allega-
tions. MacDonald was instructed by
the club not to comment.
Villa said: “Aston Villa can confi rm
Kevin MacDonald has left his position
as head of football development with
immediate eff ect. Mr MacDonald had
been reallocated to non-player facing
duties pending completion of an inde-
pendent investigation into allegations
published in The Guardian in Decem-
ber 2018 about his past conduct.
“That investigation carried out by
barrister Jack Mitchell has now con-
cluded and the results delivered to
the board. As the report forms part of
an employee disciplinary process, the
club is unable to provide details in pub-
lic, although copies of Mr Mitchell’s
investigation have been provided to
the FA, Premier League and statutory
authorities.
“Mr Mitchell appealed for individu-
als to come forward to give evidence
and we are especially grateful to those
former players who assisted him in his
investigation. Aston Villa wishes to
apologise to all former players who
were aff ected by behaviour which
would not be tolerated by the club
today. Our approach to safeguarding
is now unrecognisable from the past
and has been described as excellent
in recent EFL and Ofsted audits. The
club will now begin a search for his
successor.”
Farrelly welcomed the outcome of
the investigation and paid tribute to
the players who had given evidence. “I
hope people will see this news and feel
vindicated after having had remarka-
ble courage to come forward and relate
their experiences or assist others to do
so; it will no doubt have been incred-
ibly diffi cult for them,” he said.
“Some people still struggle and are
aff ected now by the experiences they
suff ered at Villa, as young footballers
hoping for a career in the game. This
particular investigation and MacDon-
ald’s departure demonstrate that peo-
ple in authority can be held to account
for their actions, even if it takes many
years. There is no place for people like
him in football .”
Greg Walters, a n academy scholar
from 1998 to 2000 and one of those
who spoke out about the bullying that
he said destroyed his confi dence at the
time, said: “Some people might won-
der what good we feel this has done
for us so long afterwards but it does
feel important that the club has now
acknowledged the behaviour wasn’t
right. I hope young players today and
in future won’t be subject to any kind
of similar culture that we suff ered.”
MacDonald is understood to have
been represented by the League
Managers’ Association.
▲ How David Conn revealed news
of the allegations in December 2018
players after Mitchell’s investigation
was launched in December.
McAndrew left the club in 2017
after more than 20 years coaching
Phil Neville has a photograph in his
offi ce showing the heartache of defeat
by USA in the World Cup semi-fi nals
and the image is driving his “dream”
to stay beyond his 2021 contract and
lead England to the 2023 tournament.
“Coaching hasn’t given me that feel-
ing before so to go to 2023 would be
another dream,” the England manager
said, quashing speculation over his
long-term commitment. “This sum-
mer gave me everything and more that
I wanted in my career.
“The players need to be excited and
challenged. I’ve got to make sure after
the Euro s that my players are still lis-
tening to my messages, that they’re
still challenged by me and that the FA
look at me as the right person to take
this team forward.
“It’s a two-way thing. My contract
is up to 2021; at this time the FA are
happy with the job I’m doing. I’ve
fallen in love with the job and I don’t
see any reason why it can’t continue.”
England play Belgium next
Thursday and Norway the following
Tuesday in their fi rst friendlies since
their World Cup exit in France. Neville,
refl ect ing on the semi-fi nal defeat by
the world champions, said: “USA were
the better team. We just fell a little
bit short – that’s the realism and the
honesty we need to accept. We could
come back and say we were a toe nail
or a penalty from going through but
really the feeling we all had was we
were just a bit short. That is the pain
and the frustration but also the chal-
lenge in front of us.”
Of the World Cup squad, the goal-
keeper Karen Bardsley and the striker
Ellen White will “probably be out for a
couple of camps”, said Neville, deliv-
ering a blow to Manchester City fans
eager for the pair to be fi t for the start
of the Women’s Super League season.
“We’re hoping they’re going to
be back for the Wembley game in
November but we’re not going to take
any risks,” Neville said.
He is also cautious about the poten-
tial returns of the long-term absen-
tees Jord an Nobbs (ACL) and Izzy
Christiansen (ankle). “Izzy is back in
full training. She’s done pre-season
with Lyon, we’ve been in contact with
her, she knows she needs game time –
she’s not played since the Japan game
at the SheBelieves [in March]. She’s
probably played a practice game and a
couple of training games, so she needs
to build up her match fi tness,” he said.
“We’re going to take the long road with
Jordan. We’re going to make sure we
don’t rush her back. She’s a big player
for us. Hopefully she’ll start the season
for Arsenal. We’ve got to make sure we
protect her that she gets her strength
fi tness and durability back .”
With Karen Carney having retired
and Jill Scott being rested, the new
Manchester City signing Aoife
Mannion and Chelsea’s 2018-19 top
scorer Beth England have been called
into the fold for the fi rst time. They
are joined by two graduates from the
under-20 squad who fi nished third in
the World Cup last year.
The Clemson University goalkeeper
Sandy MacIver and the former Arsenal
defender Anna Patten, who plays for
the University of South Carolina,
make the leap at the age of 21 and 20
respectively.
The diffi culty, with a home Euros
meaning automatic qualifi cation for
2021 , is fi nding top-level teams to face
in friendlies.
“ I think come October when the
qualifi ers are over we’ll have more
nations who will want to sample play-
ing in England,” Neville said.
“It’s up until that point that we’re
really struggling to fi nd the top opposi-
tion. France , the Netherlands, they’re
all in qualifying games, so it’s hard to
sort these games.”
England secured qualifi cation for
Team GB at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
by fi nishing in the top three European
teams at the World Cup. Getting into
the smaller squad, which will also
likely include players from Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland, is a
useful incentive for players.
“ We can take only 18 players and
we took 24 to the World Cup,” Neville
said. “In our meeting on Monday we’ll
be under no illusions that the bar is
going to have to be raised by every-
body, so that for me is a great carrot to
dangle in front of them. It’s great we
have the Olympics in the programme
this year. If we didn’t I think it would
have been a really diffi cult year.”
After the
heartache,
England set
sights on
glory in 2023
Suzanne Wrack
▲ Manchester City’s Aoife Mannion
has been called up for the fi rst time
MANCHESTER CITY/GETTY IMAGES
Phil Neville
England manager
‘I’ve fallen in love
with the job and
I don’t see why it
can’t continue’
Goalkeepers Mary Earps (Man Utd),
Sandy MacIver (Clemson), Ellie Roebuck
(Man City), Carly Telford (Chelsea)
Defenders Millie Bright (Chelsea),
Lucy Bronze (Lyon), Alex Greenwood (Lyon),
Steph Houghton (Man City), Aoife Mannion
(Man City), Abbie McManus (Man Utd),
Anna Patten (South Carolina), Demi Stokes
(Man City)
Midfielders Jade Moore (Reading),
Lucy Staniforth (Birmingham),
Georgia Stanway (Man City), Keira Walsh
(Man City), Leah Williamson (Arsenal)
Forwards Rachel Daly (Houston), Toni Duggan
(Atlético Madrid), Bet England (Chelsea),
Fran Kirby (Chelsea), Beth Mead (Arsenal),
Nikita Parris (Lyon), Jodie Taylor (Reign FC)
England squad
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