Vera Pauw latest allegations: 'How can you defend yourself against a lie?'

Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw has described the latest allegations against her from her time as manager of Houston Dash as "crap and nonsense".

A number of ex-Dash players and staff told The Athletic that Pauw body shamed players and behaved inappropriately during her time in charge in 2018.

Pauw was first named in a report in December on misconduct in the USA's National Women's Soccer League.

"How can you defend yourself against a lie?" Pauw said of the allegations.

"I need to have my full energy for these players. And many players came to me to support and to ask what crap or nonsense it was because they know me so differently - as well as from all the other teams that I've been coaching."

The initial report in December said Pauw had "shamed players for their weight" and "attempted to exert excessive control over eating habits".

Pauw strongly rejected those claims, which she described as an "insult to my personal values", and received strong backing from her current employers the Football Association of Ireland.

The Dutchwoman has guided the Republic of Ireland to this year's World Cup, which will be the first time the country competes at a major women's finals.

• Pauw rejects fresh misconduct claims

Monday's article in The Athletic, which specially looked at Pauw's time as manager of Houston Dash, reignited the story and the 60-year-old strongly refuted the claims in a news conference on Wednesday, before Thursday's send-off game with France.

"I'm afraid it will follow me for my life and that has been the agenda of these players, and not only the players," Pauw said, adding the fresh article "was the same story as December".

"I have spoken with the leading [Republic of Ireland] players and they all said, they came individually to me, that they hold my back.

"I have asked specifically if they have ever experienced anything, we are going to a World Cup, and they said 'no, never'.

"That bond, you have all been seeing and following that, has been so close that this team deserves that we focus on the World Cup.

"They have done everything they could to get there, they do everything to be ready and this distraction, and the timing of it, is wrong and the allegations are false. That is all I want to say."

'I did not want to answer'

Steph Yang, one of the journalists who worked on The Athletic's story, tweeted that Pauw approached the outlet in April about "protecting coaches from players".

However, Pauw dismissed this claim, saying it was The Athletic who came to her with a survey and she responded before asking when "double-standards" would be investigated.

"They approached me with a survey, so I immediately sent it back and I said 'when are you going to take responsibility over the double-standards for female coaches?'" Pauw added.

"I had to answer, I did not want to answer. I said, 'I'm not going to answer this' because they were doing the same thing and getting the same allegations in instead of going to the double standards.

"I did not want to answer but then they said, 'oh well we're going to write it anyway'. I've got a whole list of proof of support of players of Houston dash of what happened that was not used, so there was also there an agenda.

"I was flabbergasted that this was coming back to me. The only sentence that I said was, 'when are you going to deal with the double standards of female coaches?' That's the only thing I asked."

Article a 'negative distraction'

Irish captain Katie McCabe said the players support Pauw following the latest allegations but it has been a "real negative distraction" before the match against France.

"The timing isn't great. We obviously went through it back in December and it's obviously something we have spoken about but, ultimately, we have a game tomorrow.

"Our sole focus has to be fine-tuned in on that. We have built something over the past two and a half years.

"The timing of the release of the article, it is what it is, but it's obviously frustrating because this is such a massive time in Ireland for women's football.

"It's frustrating to see that we can't be here talking about our massive send-off game tomorrow as we head off to our first major tournament.

"It takes the sting out of it from the team's point of view."

Captain Katie McCabe admitted she had "clashed" with Vera Pauw but it was always professional

When asked if every player stood behind Pauw, McCabe said: "I can't answer for each and every player. Of course Vera has a style of management that we are used to over the last two years.

"It is something that we have worked through together. We have argued, of course, like you are never going to get on 100% with your manager at times. She pushed me and I push her.

"In my opinion and in my own personal relationship with Vera, we have clashed many a times but we are always professional enough to ensure we are fully focused on the team and we know both of our hearts are in the right place in terms of what is best for Ireland's women's national team going forward."