Ason Villa women boss: Player welfare is paramount

Aston Villa Women boss Carla Ward insists player welfare is ‘paramount’ after a coach was accused of sending inappropriate messages to young female players and says the club must create a ‘safe environment’

• Villa women coach Carla Ward said player welfare is ‘paramount’ at the club 
• Sportsmail revealed ex-coach Jack Peel sent inappropriate messages to players  
• Ward said the club were keen to create a safe environment for female stars 

Aston Villa women boss Carla Ward insisted player welfare is ‘paramount’ after Sportsmail revealed how a former coach resigned following shocking allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

Sportsmail’s investigation revealed how former coach Jack Peel was accused of sending inappropriate messages, including requests for naked photographs, during his time as head coach of the women’s academy at the Premier League club.

Peel was suspended by Villa in September 2021 after they received a complaint about his alleged behaviour from a member of the first-team squad and conducted an internal investigation. 

Aston Villa women boss Carla Ward stressed that player welfare is ‘paramount’ after it was revealed a former coach sent inappropriate messages to young female players

The 27-year-old resigned on the day he was due to attend a formal disciplinary hearing at Villa, but strongly denies the allegations, describing them as ‘disgusting’ and ‘untrue’.

Villa reported the case to the Football Association but Sportsmail’s investigation found that Peel was not formally interviewed by the governing body and continued to be associated with a grassroots club in Tamworth, Dosthill Colts, for nine months after leaving the WSL side.

Several of the teenage girls he allegedly texted and their parents were never contacted by the FA and the PFA were not aware of the case until being contacted by Sportsmail and are urgently seeking a meeting with the FA to ascertain what support was offered to the players, if any.

Ward was asked about the importance of safeguarding and the role of the authorities in protecting young girls in her press conference on Friday morning.

Coach Jack Peel was suspended by Villa in September 2021 after they received a complaint

Peel was accused of sending inappropriate messages to players aged between 16 and 18 

‘It’s a really important issue, I’ve got a daughter myself,’ Ward said.

‘I was delighted with the way that Villa dealt with it very quickly. These kind of things need to be highlighted, these kind of issues.

‘Player welfare is paramount, the way that you look after your players, as everybody knows, is number one for me.

‘They’re people and they have to be people first. It’s our duty to take care of them. It’s our duty to make sure we provide a safe environment for them. You can’t allow these things to slip through the net and it was a really important issue highlighted.’

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