‘I’ve not committed a serious crime, there’s no jail term, but it feels like one’

Willie Kirk wants a second chance after admitting to being in a relationship with a player and being fired as Leicester City Women manager.

The Women’s Super League club fired the 46-year-old on March 28, 2024 because he broke the team’s code of conduct.

The Scot hasn’t worked since August, but he is aware that what he did was wrong and is content with his relationship with the player. They have been living together ever since.

Aside from Manchester City and Arsenal, Kirk told BBC Sport, “I have applied for every WSL and Championship vacancy since I lost my job.” I never received a single interview.

In terms of what transpired at Leicester, I let myself down. I understand why clubs haven’t gotten involved, and I can see why some people will be upset.

“But in the end, I haven’t committed a serious crime,” I said. Although there is no jail term, it appears to have already been done.

Former manager of Everton, Bristol City, and Hibernian, Kirk has spent 14 years in the women’s game. For six months, he served Casey Stoney as Casey Stoney’s assistant at Manchester United.

He was the club’s director of football before taking over Leicester, and he is currently pursuing a master’s degree in the field. He feels like he has unfinished business on the touchline.

Kirk expressed his desire to return to the game. “In whatever capacity, whether it be for the women’s game or the men’s game, I’m open to that.”

“I have not crossed all the boxes that I wanted to do to be a head coach and accomplish what I want to do.

Before being fired after the conclusion of an investigation, he missed three games.

In women’s soccer, personal relationships between players and coaches have been criticized as having the potential to cause a power imbalance in a team.

As long as there are no minors involved, they are legal, but they can still violate codes of conduct.

Every WSL club has its own code of conduct, and each club is required to employ a safeguarding officer.

“I signed the code of conduct like everyone else,” Kirk said. You are a role model for first-team managers, and that is why I have never claimed I shouldn’t have been fired.

“Five minutes before training, I was questioned about entering a meeting on Friday.

“Sometimes, I believe I should have denied it and put it to the grave,” he said. “I don’t believe that would have worked.” I made it known, and that was it.

When the relationship broke off with Kirk’s ex, the player injured himself. The club was informed shortly after the pair’s two international trips to Italy came together in February.

Kirk acknowledges that a distinction had been drawn, and claims that things would have changed if he had taken his time once more.

We had already called it off at the time of the investigation, Kirk recalls. We said, “We have taken this far, this is too close for comfort, we need to put this on hold until the end of the season, and then one of us leaves the club.” We can change this if we still feel this way.”

Kirk was terminated on a permanent contract, but the club found him guilty of gross misconduct and refused to pay any compensation.

He regrets how he left after only attending two games at Leicester.

Kirk hopes to be the last women’s football managers to establish a relationship with a player.

He claimed his dismissal was quite public. I hope that people will realize that this is impossible.

You never want to go through a year like I have been through, because I have learned a lot. Your personal life, your finances, your emotional well-being, and everything in between are affected by it.

Kirk has applied for roles abroad that would allow him to continue raising his four-year-old son with his ex-wife.

He would drop lower in the rankings for the right project if he hadn’t rejected international management. Although he knows the women’s game is where he wants to go, his chances for a fresh start may lie elsewhere.

I just want to continue to be a part of the game’s evolution, he said.

It gives the impression that if I enter the men’s game, I will be allowed to go on my job, I won’t be discriminated against, and it will be a clean break.

Kirk is disappointed, but he is optimistic that a club will soon offer him another chance.

When will it be accepted, he said, “It will never be acceptable, but it will never be? ” Although it’s obvious that I’m trying to find a job, the statistics indicate that no good manager is working.