Full scale of player-coach relationships crisis revealed

The crisis of intimate relationships between coaches and players in women’s football has escalated after Telegraph Sport learnt of at least 36 cases amid the fallout from Jonathan Morgan’s sacking.

The issue has risen to public attention following Morgan’s exit at Sheffield United at the start of last month. He admitted that he had been in a relationship with a teenage Leicester City player while he was in charge of the side.

Since Morgan’s departure, Telegraph Sport has received further reports of dozens of relationships between players and coaches in the top six tiers of the English pyramid. They include relationships between backroom coaching staff and players, as well as between managers or head coaches and players.

All 36 relationships are said to be between adults, and many have been described as “consensual”. However, players have said they are affecting the squad dynamic. Many of the alleged cases involve female coaches in same-sex relationships, but for legal reasons they cannot be named. Leicester City manager Willie Kirk has been suspended amid an allegation he had been involved with a player.

In midweek, Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said relationships between team-mates were inappropriate but her comments sparked a reaction from one of her own players, when defender Jess Carter, who is in a relationship with Germany and Chelsea goalkeeper AnnKatrin Berger, liked a post on X that described Hayes’s remarks as “beyond bonkers”. Hayes said last night she has since spoken to Carter and added: “I didn’t think it was right for me to use the term ‘ inappropriate’ for the players.”

The Football Association said it was up to clubs to implement their own codes of conduct.