WILLIE KIRK says he “didn’t commit a crime” after being sacked by Leicester City for sleeping with a player.
The Scotsman was axed as Women’s Super League boss by the Foxes six weeks ago after he was initially suspended over a relationship.
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Willie Kirk has opened up about his explosive departure from Leicester CityCredit: Getty
Now Kirk, 45, has opened up about the controversy to try and set the record straight.
He told the Daily Mail: “There are a number of things I have to sort out.
“First of all, me and my wife have been separated for more than a year.
“I think right now people are saying ‘he’s a bad coach, he’s a bad husband, he’s a bad man.'”
Kirk arrived at Leicester in July 2022 as director of football as he replaced Lydia Bedford as manager that November before taking up the position permanently.
They were on a meaningless six-match run when he took over but he helped them overcome the drop to take them to tenth place – but the romance began in the months after.
He said: “One of the players contacted me outside of work to express his feelings for me.
“I said ‘that’s ridiculous’ and just turned it off. That was it.
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“I kept turning it off and saying ‘that will never happen, there is a code of conduct’.”
However, things changed when the player got injured last year.
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Kirk said: “I think that’s what got it right for us.
“She was injured at the end of the calendar year and was rehabilitating outside the training field.
“Right before Christmas, I arranged to meet on a personal level. She was injured so that couldn’t stop me from doing my job because she couldn’t be selected.
“Obviously I was trying to justify it to myself, which was never right. After Christmas we started seeing each other once a week, so she would come here, or the week after I would go to her place.”
Kirk and his partner were discovered by an employee of another club during a trip to Milan in February.
He said: “When we came back we said ‘I think this has gone too far, we have to knock this on its head for the rest of the season and either I leave the club or you leave the club.’ ‘
“We agreed that we were taking too many risks.”
The discovery of the relationship led to the bat pulling in Kirk.
He said: “They pulled me into a meeting saying there was a complaint against me and the club’s lawyer would be in touch and outside lawyers would organize an investigation.
“Ten days have come and gone. We were preparing for the FA Cup match against Liverpool.
“Fifteen minutes before the last practice on Friday, the director of women’s affairs and the in-house lawyer dragged me into the office, and I simply knew what it was about.
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“They said we need you to be honest with us ‘are you in a relationship with the player? We know all about it, we know you were in Italy, we know it started just before Christmas.’”
Kirk admitted the affair, and after a three-week investigation, Leicester sacked him for gross misconduct.
The player remains at the club while Kirk unsuccessfully appealed the decision.
He says: “Since I confessed, I have been treated and made to feel like a criminal.
“I feel the club could have handled it better. I felt there was no consistency with previous investigations.
“It’s on me, it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have gone through anything. There’s a code of conduct, I’ve been involved in setting it up, I’ve certainly been involved in living by it on a day-to-day basis and trying to guide our standards, so it’s absolutely ridiculous that I’m the one who broke it.
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Kirk says he feels let down by the club after being axed Credit: Getty
“I think the way it was handled created a lot of uncertainty and rumors and counter-rumors.
“I don’t think it helped the players or the staff and I think we’re seeing it now in the results. They went through the game with Liverpool, but picked up two draws in their last seven games.
“As difficult as it was, I felt I had an obligation to speak to the staff and the players to explain and apologize face to face and give my side of the story.
“Maybe it didn’t keep me there, but we’ll never know.”
Kirk added: ‘It was frustrating. Wrong, I think a lot of that frustration turned into hate. I hated myself. I hated the club. I had moments where I resented the relationship even though the relationship was still going.
“This was not a manager using his power and saying ‘jump into bed with me and I’ll play you in the starting 11.’
“I just carried that hate, which is not right, but it comes from that frustration of not being able to talk about it.
“I am not a criminal, I did not commit a crime. I endangered the environment and that’s a big deal.
“The club has made mistakes in the past, I came in, overturned a points deficit that had never been overturned before, retained WSL status.
“Now I made a mistake and they want nothing to do with me. I felt let down by the club in that sense.”
Kirk began his managerial career in Scotland at Hibernian.
After a short spell with the men’s side of Scottish non-league Preston Athletic, he entered WSL management.
He enjoyed three years in charge of Bristol City but left to sign for Manchester United as Casey Stoney’s assistant.
However, he did not stay with the Red Devils for long as he left to take over as Everton boss just six months later in December 2018.
He was fired after registering just two wins in the first five games of the 2021/22 season.
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Jennifer Foster has since taken over as interim manager at Leicester. Credit: Getty
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