Earthquakes' baffling Gavin Wilkinson hire insults fans and Bay FC: ‘A slap in the face'
i was surprised this whole ordeal wasn't already posted in the sub, so i apologize if i somehow missed a post about this already.
tldr is that wilkinson was previously the president of both the timbers (mls) and the thorns but was fired after being featured heavily in the yates report for not reporting or acting on complaints from players and staff about sexual abuse by the thorns head coach, paul riley.
from the article linked: "He was fired in 2022 after his name showed up prominently in the Yates Report, the independent investigation into abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women's professional soccer.
While the report did not specifically sanction Wilkinson, it portrayed him as overseeing a toxic environment with the Thorns, where the sexual misconduct by head coach Paul Riley was an open secret. The report indicates that Wilkinson did not adequately respond to reports from players and team trainers about Riley's sexual harassment as well as the coach's unsafe actions that endangered players' health. Two days after the report came out, Wilkinson was let go."
"Though the Earthquakes and Bay FC are independent of each other, they share the same building and the same market. The fact that the Earthquakes cavalierly hired Wilkinson, without any consideration of his toxic reputation in women's soccer, is beyond insulting to their co-tenants, who are supposed to be their partners in building a soccer culture."
Cont: "On Monday, Bay FC issued a statement that read: "As an organization committed to building a safe, inclusive and respectful environment, we believe the actions and history associated with Wilkinson's time in professional soccer are inconsistent with the standards we hold for those entrusted to lead in our sport.
"We stand with the players, survivors and advocates who have worked tirelessly to make soccer a safer and more inclusive place and we will continue to put the safety, dignity and well-being of our players and our community first.""