‘There’ll Be A Female Premier League Manager In Ten Years’ – Lawrie Sanchez Predicts A Woman Boss By 2022

Alan Duffy

4th, April 2012

25 Comments

By Alan Duffy


“Do me a favour, Sanchez…”

Firstly all these fines for racist abuse, then for homophobic abuse and now former Crazy Gang member Lawrie Sanchez is predicting a female Premier League manager within 10 years! It’s political correctness gone mad!!! They’ll be wanting Abu Hamza to manage England next.

In a soon to be broadcast BBC documentary on sexism in football, Sanchez who currently manages Barnet, said:

“Someone, somewhere will appoint a female manager. I have a bet going with a mate that there will be a female Premier League manager within 10 years.”

“Whether (she is appointed) because she’s the best person out there or because of the commercial aspect that comes with it, the reason will be that it is the best situation for the club.”

The programme, to be shown on BBC One on Wednesday night, looks at a problem which has blighed football from the off. From the appallingly outdated ‘Soccerette’ feature on the nauseating Soccer AM to Keys and Gray to even throwaway terms like ‘handbags’, the game is riddled with casual and institutionalised sexism. Oh, and didn’t Sepp Blatter once entertain the idea of making female footballers wear tight shorts? Jesus wept!

Thankfully, with the increasingly enlightened views on homophobia and racism in the game and the likes of the FA’s Head of the National Game, Kelly Simmons, having a position of power, things may well change. And so they should.

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25 Comments

  1. Col says:

    “From the appallingly outdated ‘Soccerette’ feature on the nauseating Soccer AM to Keys and Grays”

    Two things about this sentence made me laugh: Firstly, the fact that if I look below and to the right of this article, I can see a montage of scantily clad females under the heading “Wags & Girls”. Secondly, “Keys and Grays” is rather similar to the “Arsenals, Chelseas and Liverpools” term that this site was so fervently condemning about 24 hours previously!!

    Hypocrisy’s a bitch, eh?

  2. Mr. Sparkle says:

    I agree, I’m sure idiots like Keys and Gray are right now furious about such comments. I agree on “Soccer AM” as well, the programme apart from 3rd eye is shite.

  3. Pete says:

    How can there be sexism in an ALL MALE SPORT? Absolute nonsense, a woman manager is not some “last frontier of woman’s rights.” They have plenty of other things to sort out, like equality in the workplace. C’mon now!

  4. Steve K says:

    There’ll be a female manager in the Premier League in about 40 years time, in a desperate bid for publicity, when nobody watches football any more because everyone is sick of the nonsense that surrounds it.

    Sport is by definition sexist, in that men and women are separated on the pitch. To be truly unprejudiced, we’d need to have one unisex league, then see how many women make the top division based purely on ability.

    Of course, this doesn’t mean a woman can’t be a manager, but Premier League clubs don’t tend to give those roles to former players (AVB, Mourinho and other examples aside).

    Why would a woman even want that job?

  5. emc88 says:

    Well if that aint the most bonkers thing I have heard today. While I do not support the likes of Keys and Gray for their chauvinistic viewpoints, the notion of a woman PL manager in a decade is complete mental. It would be a publicity stunt for all the wrong reasons, as your most likely to have a squad divided or a full mutiny within the team. I just don’t think much will change in 10 years for such a barrier to be broken.

  6. Alan Duffy says:

    @Col FYI I don’t have anything to do with the Wags & Girls bit on the website!

  7. Murray says:

    Suddenly, I’m reminded of “Eddie”, starring Whoopi Goldberg.

  8. Davy says:

    Soccer AM is mint….End of

  9. Davy says:

    @ Mr Sparkle and you must watch it to know about the 3rd Eye, or don’t tell me you’ve seen it a few times. Most people who read this site will watch it and love it..

  10. Wednesday says:

    Far and away the best tactically-minded football fan I know is a woman. She could easily out-pundit most of the so-called “expert” pundits and former managers I see quoted on Sky everyday. God knows former players don’t invariably make great managers, so why not? Managing a squad is about understanding the game and understanding your players, and I’m not so pessimistic as to believe grown men couldn’t respect a woman manager if she was qualified for the job (OK, maybe just a bit). Of course, she’d have to overcome the fact that it’s nearly impossible for a woman to break into the hierarchy of the FA on the men’s side, so …

  11. SL says:

    There will never be one in my lifetime. Im not even sure if there is a female coach at the moment in pro football.

    Physio, officials, directors etc are fine but a female manager makes as much sense as a male netball coach.

  12. Mr. Sparkle says:

    You can watch clips from Soccer AM on the SkySports website. I did watch the show, but generally tuned it out for the most part. The people who lead the show are fecking annoying and the only good thing about it like I said is 3rd Eye.

  13. Alex says:

    I’m not sure I agree with this, I think it’s hard to tell how much integration there should be.

    I think more effort should be invested in making the womens game more appealing and giving it more screen time, the world cup was great with its coverage and quality. That’d be preferable to giving women minor roles in football like allowing them to commentate on the odd game.

  14. jon says:

    I’d show Kelly Simmons my power position.

  15. sloth says:

    @Col, the article doesn’t say “the Keys and the Grays.” It mentions (Richard) Keys – his name has an S at the end of it, and Andy Gray – singular. They both made sexist remarks about that lineswoman in the same incident, so it’s logical to mention both of them

    If you’re going to bash the author or an article, at least make sure you understand what he’s saying.

    Good article, Duffy.

  16. Legano says:

    You must live such an exciting life, Alan Duffy… the true life and soul of the party, eh? ;)

    If one of your mates says to you ‘oh look at her (or him, if you’re gay), isn’t she (or he) fit, look at those legs!’, do you enter into a PC rant about sexism? Chill out for once. Are ‘soccerette’s’ forced into appearing on the show?

    Soccer AM, incidentally, is nauseating. That’s the only point I agree with you on.

  17. dc says:

    If the particular woman who takes the job is smart, qualified and a good fit, why not?

    women share a lot of positive management characteristics that would make them great managers of whatever discipline, whether it be business or football.

    Usually a bit less stubborn towards change and adaptation than the men which is the hallmark of every successful football manager, ever. And depending on the woman, its possible that the players follow her directions more than usual

  18. Andy Carroll's Ponytail says:

    She’ll give a new meaning to the term: “Squeaky bum time”!

  19. Opponent says:

    If footballers at times disrespect managers (AVB for example), imagine who’d they behave with a female one. Can’t see it happening.

  20. qwerty says:

    lol there’ll be a female manager before lawrie sanchez manages in the premier league again

  21. 4EVERED says:

    Could you imagine Fergie giving the Hair dryer treatment then pulling out the straighers?

    Arsenal Wenger having a good winning streak then losing and blaming it on that time of the month.

    Simply – it will never happen never mind in 10 years.

  22. Don Diego Salongo says:

    With a women in charge the teams form would turn sour every 4th week!

  23. Glenn SWFC says:

    Interestingly enough as I finished reading the article, I glanced to the right to see a feature entitled “Wags & Girls”. Well done boys!

  24. Del says:

    “In 10 years…”

    Thats what they said about gay players coming out 10 years ago and it never happened. Can’t really see this happening either.

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