Leicester City have confirmed Willie Kirk has been dismissed as manager of the club’s women’s team after a club investigation into an alleged relationship with a player.

Leicester confirmed in March that Kirk was not leading the team as he was assisting the club with an “internal process”. The Athletic reported he was under investigation over an alleged relationship with one of his players.

A statement from Leicester on Thursday confirmed that Kirk had been dismissed from his role. It read: “Following an extensive internal disciplinary process and respecting the club’s obligations to individual privacy, Willie was determined to have breached the team’s code of conduct to a degree that makes his position untenable.

“Established and implemented ahead of the start of the current season, the code forms part of the club’s ongoing commitment to professionalising the women’s game since the takeover of LCFC Women in 2020, promoting a performance-led culture among players, coaches and technical staff.

“First Team responsibilities for LCFC Women will continue to be led by Jennifer Foster, supported by Stephen Kirby, while the club begins the process of appointing a new permanent manager.”

A Leicester spokesperson had said on March 8: “Willie Kirk is assisting the…

Leicester City Women manager Willie Kirk is under investigation over an alleged relationship with one of his players.

The Guardian reported that Kirk, 45, is understood to have been suspended by his club pending the investigation into the allegations and as a result, will miss his side’s game against Liverpool at Prenton Park on Saturday.

It comes only a few weeks after it emerged that Jonathan Morgan had a ‘secret’ three-year relationship with a teenage player while he was Leicester manager.

Morgan was sacked by Sheffield United last month after the player, who said she was 17 when it started, went public about what her mother has described as an ‘inappropriate and immoral’ relationship.”

A Leicester spokesperson said: “Willie Kirk is assisting the club with an internal process, the outcomes of which will be determined in due course. 

“Assistant manager Jennifer Foster and first-team coach Stephen Kirby will take charge of the team for Saturday’s FA Women’s Cup tie at Liverpool.”

Kirk was also due to speak at the Women in Football (WIF) conference at Wembley Stadium later this month. WIF is an organisation that aims to champion female talent in a bid to bring about a change in attitudes to women working in the industry. 

Kirk is represented by agent Jo…

Leicester City are facing charges and a potential points deduction for an alleged breach of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations (PSR) in the 2022-23 season, which ended in relegation to the Championship.

Had Leicester avoided relegation, the 2016 Premier League champions would now almost certainly be in the same situation as Everton and Nottingham Forest, both of whom have been referred to an independent commission over a PSR breach and are at risk of losing points. Everton have already had a 10-point deduction reduced to six points relating to a PSR breach from the reporting period ending in 2021-22.

On Wednesday, it was confirmed Leicester remain at risk of a PSR breach for this season despite an independent panel ruling the club do not have to submit a business plan to the English Football League (EFL). They could still avoid this second breach if they are able to reduce their losses through player sales in June.

PSR assessments are usually based on a rolling three-year basis, with Premier League clubs allowed to lose a maximum of £105million ($134m) over the period, although that figure is adjusted to exclude expenditure on community projects, infrastructure, the women’s team and youth development. But because of the uneven impact of the…

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has said he is “sad for society” after being criticised for saying “good girl” to a female reporter during an interview.

Rodgers, 51, has claimed people are trying to “bring him down” after he was accused of showing “casual sexism” by campaign groups For Women Scotland and the Scottish Feminist Network.

He made the comments to BBC reporter Jane Lewis after his side won 3-1 at Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.

What was said in the interview?

Rodgers was pressed by Lewis, 53, after he said: “The story has already been written about this group, but we will write our own story.”

Lewis replied: “Can you give us a bit more — you don’t want to give us a bit more insight into that and what you mean?” Rodgers responded: “No, no, you know exactly what I mean,” but the journalist added: “I’m actually not sure exactly what you mean.”

Rodgers then appeared to abruptly end the interview with the words “Done, good girl, well done.”

What has been the response to Rodgers’ words?

For Women Scotland demanded after the match that Rodgers apologise to Lewis after showing “casual sexism”.

A spokeswoman at For…

Jonathan Morgan, the manager at the centre of the Football Association’s Maddy Cusack inquiry, was appointed by Sheffield United despite the club being warned by a senior executive that he “doesn’t have a great reputation” within women’s football.

New evidence shows the club’s head of football administration, Carl Shieber, was made aware of unspecified concerns during the recruitment process that led to Morgan being offered the job in February last year.

The Athletic has also established that Morgan was the subject of two previous complaints at Leicester City, one of his former clubs, relating to his alleged behaviour towards certain players. He denied any misconduct and no findings were made against him.

Morgan is being investigated by the FA after a complaint from Cusack’s parents, David and Deborah, about his alleged behaviour towards their daughter, United’s longest-serving player, before she took her own life, aged 27, last September.

Morgan has always denied any wrongdoing and was cleared in December by an external inquiry, commissioned by the club, of any bullying or inappropriate behaviour.

The club say they are satisfied with their recruitment process even…

Welcome to Full Time, The Athletic’s women’s football column, a one-stop shop every Monday to discuss the big issues in the game in the UK and Europe.

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Main story

On Friday morning, Sheffield United announced they had sacked coach Jonathan Morgan based on “new information (that) came to light about his conduct”. The Athletic revealed that the reason for Morgan’s dismissal was a previous relationship with a teenage player during his time managing Leicester City.

The decision came just weeks after Morgan was cleared of any wrongdoing by an external inquiry — carried out at the request of Sheffield United player Maddy Cusack’s parents following her death at the end of September.

GO DEEPER

How Morgan’s ‘immoral’ relationship with his teenage player led to his sacking

Morgan’s sacking has distinct parallels with the situation of former England manager Mark Sampson, who was dismissed by the Football Association (FA) in 2017. Sampson was also the subject of an inquiry after he was accused by former England forward Eniola Aluko of displaying racist behaviour. He was cleared, but the FA eventually sacked Sampson based on reports of a relationship with a player when he was manager of Bristol Academy (now Bristol City) three years earlier.

In both cases, the alternative…

For almost three years, Jonathan Morgan hid a secret from the rest of his football team and almost everybody else in his life.

Today, though, it can be revealed why the manager at the centre of the Football Association’s Maddy Cusack inquiry was sacked on Friday by Sheffield United’s women’s team — and why the announcement was quickly followed by his management agency terminating its contract to represent him.

His club took the decision after The Athletic presented a portfolio of evidence that Morgan, when manager of Leicester City’s women’s side, had embarked on a secret relationship lasting nearly three years with a teenage player from his own team.

The player in question, who spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity for her family, says she was 17 when the relationship started and that Morgan, then in his late twenties, took advantage of her immaturity.

Her mother also believes she was 17 at the time and has described Morgan’s behaviour as “inappropriate and immoral”.

“He wouldn’t have wanted to keep the relationship a secret unless he knew he was doing something wrong,” she says. “It was her age, more than anything. He was supposed to be in a position of trust.”

Morgan, now 35, insists they are wrong about the girl’s age and says she was 18….

Arsenal defender Katie McCabe smirked as she trundled off the pitch in the 71st minute, with her side leading against Liverpool 2-0 on Sunday. Referee Rebecca Welch had just cautioned her for taking too long to be substituted.

Manchester City captain Alex Greenwood was less amused in October when she was shown a second yellow against Chelsea in the 37th minute by referee Emily Heaslip after she was deemed to have taken too long over a free kick.

That is just one strand of the approach implemented by Women’s Super League (WSL) officials who, as with their counterparts in the men’s game, are taking a more robust approach this season to clamp down on time-wasters.

The other strand: to ensure any time wasted via goal celebrations, injuries and substitutions is added at the end of each half to increase the amount of time the ball is in play. The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that looks after the game’s laws, asked competition organisers to adopt this approach after data revealed playing time was decreasing globally.

This WSL season has surpassed its halfway point (12 of 22 games), providing an opportunity to assess the impact of the Professional Game Match Officials Board’s (PGMOL) measures. And this new, stricter approach to time-keeping has…

From the age of six, Willy Caballero realised he liked to be the player giving out the instructions to those around him. It was one of the reasons why he became a goalkeeper.

He had joined a local team in Santa Elena, his home city in northern Argentina, and had initially been an outfield player but when his team-mates decided they did not want to play in goal, Caballero went between the posts. After that, they began to win.

“I started to enjoy giving out orders, commenting on the defenders and correcting people,” Caballero said in a 2013 interview with Nuevo Futbol, a Spanish-language sports website. “ It stuck, so at the age of six I became a keeper.”

On Monday night, the now 42-year-old Caballero will be the man on the touchline, passing out the instructions and encouragement to Leicester City’s players as they take on fellow promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town in the Championship.

With Enzo Maresca serving a one-game suspension up in the King Power Stadium stands for picking up three yellow cards this season, it falls on assistant manager Caballero to step forward into the technical area.

Caballero’s early experiences have provided grounding and perspective and strengthened his leadership skills. He settled down with wife Lucia and started a family aged 21 before moved…

It is the heartbreaking story of a talented and popular footballer, her tragic death and the investigation into a family’s complaints about what they believe caused her emotional anguish.

Maddy Cusack’s death in September sent shockwaves throughout the sport and plunged Sheffield United into a state of mourning for their longest-serving player. As her parents, David and Deborah, tried to get through their first Christmas without their eldest daughter, fans launched a petition to retire her No 8 shirt as a permanent tribute.

“She fell in love with Sheffield United, the fans and the city of Sheffield,” Deborah told a memorial service in October. “Maddy became Miss Sheffield United and adored every minute of it. This was her home, the place she envisioned she would hang up her boots one day.”

Cusack started playing football at the age of five and spent time in the junior setups at Chesterfield, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City before being taken on by Aston Villa and representing England’s under-19s. An energetic, tough-tackling midfielder, she went on to play for Birmingham City and Leicester City before moving to Sheffield, where she became the team’s first women’s player to make more than 100 appearances.

That everything ended so tragically has caused…