Tommy Martin: For all Vera Pauw achieved, losing the support of players was the only thing that counted

Just because Vera Pauw deserved a new contract, doesn’t mean she should have gotten one.

Vera Pauw. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

To many observers, the defenestration of Vera Pauw as Ireland manager could not have been more shocking had the playing squad launched her from the stage at the team’s World Cup homecoming into the nearby River Liffey.

And at surface level it looks bad. In leading an Irish team to a World Cup, Pauw achieved what only Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy had done before her. More importantly, she had led Irish women’s soccer into a new frontier, author of a sporting paradigm shift.