Vera Pauw: I am the coach, not Katie McCabe

Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw with players, from left, Áine O'Gorman, Katie McCabe and Marissa Sheva. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Vera Pauw has reaffirmed her authority as Ireland manager by confirming she ignored a request by Katie McCabe to make substitutions during the World Cup stalemate against Nigeria.

Speculation about differences between players and the manager have compounded in recent days the silence from the FAI over a contract renewal that Pauw has been publicly critical of.

Consecutive defeats to Australia and Canada eliminated Ireland from the last-16 equation but the quest to leave Brisbane with a win was in the mind of McCabe at least lacking freshness in the second half.

Nigeria were aware from Australia’s breezing past Canada that a draw was sufficient to send them through, placing the onus on Ireland to intensify their attacking threat.

There wasn’t much of that in the second half, bar a Denise O’Sullivan blocked shot, and evidently there’s a disparity in thought process between captain and manager.

Pauw waited until the 84th minute to make her first substitution, suggesting she was not prepared to grant McCabe’s wish of withdrawing Sinead Farrelly earlier.

“If Katie McCabe wants a change, it doesn’t mean…she’s not the coach. Yeah?,” said the Dutch native in her post-match press conference.

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— Katie McCabe (@Katie_McCabe11) July 31, 2023

"Why would we change? Everybody was doing so well. So I said, 'What do you want, Katie, taking the best player off?'"

"A player is allowed to be emotional and say that but I step back to analyse and make changes that are necessary.

“A player can always ask but as a coach it’s not a refusal - as a coach you make decisions on what is necessary. A player can say anything to the coach, at least to me.” Asked what McCabe requested: Pauw added: “That she wanted fresh legs - on her side.” “Everybody was doing so well. Sinead Farrelly was arguably the best player on the pitch at that moment, so I was not prepared to take the best player off.” McCabe has since used her Twitter account to post a message of an emoji with a zipped mouth.

Related to her future, Pauw said she was confident of being handed a contract extension. The latest term of her near four-year stay officially ends next month.