Republic of Ireland interim manager Eileen Gleeson has said players are "entitled to their opinions" after Diane Caldwell's explosive criticism of Vera Pauw.
Defender Caldwell did not hold back when assessing Pauw's time at the helm on Monday, saying "the results, performances that we got, were in spite of Vera being coach".
The 33-year-old also revealed herself and Katie McCabe aired some grievances around the manager's approach to the then FAI high performance director Ruud Dokter in the wake of the unsuccessful Euro 2022 qualifying campaign over two and half years ago.
Gleeson served as Pauw's No 2 for two years before leaving to become head coach at Glasgow City.
Last January she was appointed as the FAI's first ever Head of Women and Girls' Football, a role she remains fully committed to, ruling herself out of the running to replace Pauw long term after the 60-year-old departed at the end of last month.
She's taking the reins on a temporary basis while the association search for a suitable replacement, but Gleeson has walked into a storm as the full extent of player discontent under Pauw becomes evident.
Ahead of the Republic of Ireland's UEFA Nations League clash with Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, she found herself in firefighting mode.
"Players are going to express themselves all the time," the Dubliner said when asked about Caldwell's comments.
"We've all worked with players so we know players have opinions, and rightly so. It's their game, it's their performances, it's how they feel. They want to move forward.
"A player having an opinion is not a new thing. We're hearing plenty of opinions now, so a player having one is not at odds with human nature."
When pushed on Caldwell's assertion that the Girls in Green had qualified for the World Cup "in spite" of Pauw's management, Gleeson added: "It's not for me to get in to Diane's opinion or what Diane has said. Like I said, players have opinions, people have opinions, they're entitled to that, but we're not focusing on anything around that. We're just focusing on moving forward."
Gleeson has recalled Tyler Toland after a near four-year exile.
The Donegal midfielder was last seen in an Ireland squad for the Euro qualifier away to Greece back in 2019. She had a major fallout with Pauw, with Maurice Toland - the player's father - claiming his daughter had been unfairly frozen out and on the receiving end of overly harsh criticism.
Pauw counter-claimed she had been subjected to "harassment and intimidation" by Maurice Toland over Tyler's omissions from the squad. He strongly denied the allegations.
Gleeson insisted Toland's inclusion was "purely a football decision".
"Tyler has been a young player in our talent pool for many years, right through our youth system. She's gone off and played in a couple of professional clubs... Glasgow City, Celtic, Levante and now she's with Blackburn Rovers. She hasn't had the game time that she would have wanted, or consistent game time.
"Now she's at a club where she's playing in the championship, playing at a decent level, she's playing 90 minutes week in week out. For us it's a football decision. For us it's exhausting the talent pool. It's transitioning young players through, and Tyler is now playing consistently which gives us a greater insight into her performance and potential.
"It's purely a football decision. That's why Tyler is back in the squad."
The squad, said Gleeson, was chosen by her and her backroom team: Emma Byrne and Colin Healy.
Last week FAI CEO Jonathan Hill said that 30 one-on-one interviews had been conducted with players and staff as part of the World Cup review that led to Pauw losing her job.
Gleeson says she was not interviewed as part of that process, and rejected the notion that recent drama around the team might put anyone off taking on the job.
"We all had the goosebumps when Amhrán na bhFiann played at a packed out stadium in Sydney and a packed out stadium in Perth."
"I would say this is a really privileged role to come into," she said.
"The team has huge potential, that the federation are offering all support. I think it's quite an attractive role.
"I would have no doubt there would be a lot of applicants for the role.
"There is no escaping the elephant in the room or what's gone on and the noise that's around the camp. We had a brief discussion on it but the focus is on the performance in this Nations League campaign."
The FAI expect around 30,000 fans to attend Saturday's clash with the North, which will be the first international women's match held at the Aviva.
It's another landmark moment, with Gleeson keen to savour the occasion and maintain all positive momentum gained from the summer's appearance at the World Cup.
"I've been women's football for 30 years in Ireland, by choice," she said.
"People ask, 'why didn't you go away?' It's because I love Irish football and at the core, I'm Irish. That passion, that pride, we all felt it when the World Cup was on.
"We all had the goosebumps when Amhrán na bhFiann played at a packed out stadium in Sydney and a packed out stadium in Perth.
"We'll have that same feeling on Saturday. The feeling those players gave to everybody throughout the World Cup, in the build-up to it, the historic World Cup qualification, the historic performances during it and the support from people, that's what we'll have again on Saturday in the Aviva.
"And that's what I'll be super proud of."
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