Women's World Cup: No Hope! Why Hope Powell Must Quit the England Job

Hope Powell has done an outstanding job during her 13 years in charge of the England Women’s Football team.  She has raised the on-field performance to levels never seen previously and also has worked hard off the field to raise the exposure of the Women’s game. 

While on-field performance peaked with an appearance of the 2009 European Championships, Powell has consistently competed at a level England Women had not achieved previously. 

In addition, Powell played a key role in developing and running the FA National Player Development Center at Loughborough University.

The Loughborough site has rejuvenated the youth development of female players in England and will impact English Football in a positive way for years to come.  It could be argued the England Men’s Team can look to Powell for guidance in some areas of youth development.

Finally, Hope Powell has been awarded an OBE and CBE by the Queen for her outstanding achievements and contribution to British Women’s sport.

With all these achievements in the bank it would e fair to ask why she should now quit.  The answer is simple, Powell has betrayed her players and it is doubtful they can ever trust her again. 

Powell led an England team to the World Cup quarterfinals, and they lost on penalties to France after a dramatic 1-1 draw.

Many England players pushed themselves to the limit during the draw, and Powell herself described the performance as “gallant.”  However, her true feelings were exposed during an on-field interview in the immediate aftermath of the game. 

Powell ranted to the BBC that her players had showed weakness for the shootout.  “You’ve got to want to take a penalty, but other players should have come forward and they didn’t.  that’s weak, it’s cowardice,” Powell vented.

With this one statement, Powell threw her players under the bus and separated herself from any blame for the failure to reach the semifinals.  Powell received an immediate and justified backlash from the players she must now look in the eye if she wants to continue as England Women’s manager.

Striker Eniola Aluko described Powell’s comments as “unbelievable,” while star performer Jill "Crouchy" Scott set an example the beleaguered coach should follow by summarizing, “You win as a team, you lose as a team.”

The most worrying comments of all came from Casey Stoney.  “That’s not the impression I got from Hope when she debriefed us after the game,” said Stoney. "She said she was very proud and we should hold our heads up high.” 

If what Stoney says is true then the problem runs very deep.  If Powell called her players ‘cowards’ in front of the media spotlight, but then refused to say anything negative to their face then that lacks integrity. 

Indeed, if this is true, then it is Hope Powell who is the biggest coward of all.

If the England players were equally disrespectful then could Powell be accused of cowardice.  Why did England play with only one forward and not be brave and attacking?  On a preparation level, why did Powell not know in advance who would take the kicks?

As the World Cup began Powell gave some sound advice to her players regarding their use of Twitter.  The coach urged players to be careful what they said saying once words were out in the public forum they were “there forever.” 

Sadly for Powell, she was exactly right and one interview given in the heat of the moment could now define her.  To continue as England coach she would have to look the players in the eye and convince them they were bonded. 

Convince them that they were all in it together.  Sadly, after such a betrayal there is little Hope of that.