Vera Pauw: ‘FAI asked was I garda vetted and I fell off my chair’

Dutch-born coach claims to have turned down two job offers to stay on as Ireland manager

Manager Vera Pauw at the Castleknock Hotel before an Ireland homecoming event on O'Connell Street in Dublin following the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 last month. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Vera Pauw has revealed that she “fell off her chair” after being asked by the FAI in a meeting whether she had been “garda vetted”.

The axed Irish boss said that trust broke down between her and senior figures at the FAI when an intervention by her had sparked renewed claims about allegations relating to her time in US club football on the eve of the World Cup.

The FAI, who had unequivocally backed her when the allegations first emerged last December, cooled when they re-emerged in July after Pauw herself had contacted “The Athletic” website to offer her side of the story.

During the period she awaited news of a possible contract renewal, Pauw claims to have received – and turned down – two job offers as a result of the FAI’s reluctance to offer her a new deal, as had seemed likely months earlier.

“Now all the places are occupied, and I have said no to two offers - one was better than the other but I've said no because I was with Ireland and I would keep going,” she has claimed.

"The management could have said, 'listen we know what's going on, we heard the background, in December we have decided that this we know, Vera, we back her, there's no differences so we just go on because we know it is not true.

"If you don’t want that then I understand but just say no to me and say it before we leave for Australia. I am a professional, I will give my all but then it’s clear and everybody will know what’s going on. I would have accepted and