Man City Women slammed for 'shameful' send-off for departing players
Manchester City Women have come under scrutiny from former Lioness Ellen White and Chelsea defender Millie Bright for the manner in which they announced a raft of departing players.
An hour after City’s 2-1 victory over Aston Villa and confirmation of Chelsea’s fifth Women’s Super League title, City announced on their official channels the departures of Ellie Roebuck, Demi Stokes, Ruby Mace and Filippa Angeldahl.
Both Mace and Angeldahl have spent the last three seasons at the Manchester club, while Roebuck and Stoke have spent just under a decade at the club each. The future of Roebuck has been understood to be outside the City walls for some months.
As the announcement filtered onto social media, the players were presented with individual flower bouquets in front of the travelling City support at Villa Park as a sign of gratitude.
And White believes the club’s decision to announce their departures so soon after the final whistle is “a shame”.
“I didn’t expect it an hour after the game that those players were leaving,” she said on BBC’s Women’s Football Weekly podcast. “I thought it was a bit of a shame, I thought they should have their moment. I’s football and players move on, but as a club, you might want to do something special for them because of what they’ve done for the club.
"They’ve been a part of the history for so many years, especially Ellie Roebuck and Demi Stokes. And I know they gave flowers on the pitch but I was kind of disappointed in the way it was announced but I don’t know, maybe that’s the way the club works.”
White previously criticised City boss Gareth Taylor’s refusal to bring on now-retired defender Steph Houghton for City’s final home match at the Joie Stadium. Houghton was left on the bench as City collapsed spectacularly against Arsenal, who stunned City with a 2-1 last-gasp victory which ultimately cost City the title.
Ruby Mace and Filippa Angeldahl embrace with Khiara Keating at Villa Park
And Bright believes that Chelsea got the send-off tone correct this season, having held a ceremony for any departing players, including club legend Fran Kirby, at the Blues’ final home match of the season at Kings Meadow.
“I’m really proud of Chelsea in the way that we did it because for me, as a teammate, that would have hurt a little bit,” she said. “We’ve become a family and yeah, whether that’s the way [ Manchester City ] work, I don’t know."
Bright added: "But I’m just glad they got their moment at Kings Meadow and were presented and fans got to give them a standing ovation and they got to speak to the fans, got to say what they needed to say and it felt really special, the right way to do things.
Steph Houghton received a bouquet of flowers to mark the end of her City tenure
"I know every club is different but I think when you’ve been a servant for so many years, you do deserve that moment no matter what. As players you give your heart and soul, you sacrifice to give everything to the club every day. So the least you could do is make sure that players go out in the right manner rather than it coming as a shock.”
Where Houghton was not given the send-off at the Joie Stadium, she did come onto the pitch at Villa Park in the final stages of the game to resounding applause from the travelling fans, who continued to show their appreciation of the defender any time she touched the ball.
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