NWSL: Wilkinson Exit Underlines Thorns Chaos
Portland Thorns head coach Rhian Wilkinson abruptly resigned on Friday.
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The announcement came just one day after owner Merritt Paulson announced his decision to sell the team.
Wilkinson said she had been cleared by an investigation into what the coach described as “complex emotions” beyond friendship with defender Emily Menges.
Wilkinson self-reported the issue to club leadership late in the 2022 season.
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“Once you’ve lost the locker room, which I have, there’s no return,” she told The Athletic.
Wilkinson will not be disqualified from working in the NWSL in the future.
Meanwhile…
Portland’s other players sent a letter to NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman and NWSL chief legal officer Bill Ordower saying they felt “unsettled and unsafe.”
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Players had questions about how general manager Karina LeBlanc and interim CEO Heather Davis handled their concerns as well as a lack of anonymity.
“We do not believe league and club reporting policy was followed,” the letter states.
The contradiction between Wilkinson’s clearing of wrongdoing and the players’ concerns seems to indicate a lack of internal trust after years of front-office controversy.
With a sale on the horizon, questions about what it will take to stabilize a club in deep flux just a few months after a championship win are top of mind.
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