Alex Morgan slammed the Portland Thorns after an ESPN report claimed that owner Merritt Paulson tried to persuade former coach Paul Riley not to pursue the U.S. women’s national team job in 2019.
Riley was terminated for cause as Thorns coach in 2015 after sexual misconduct allegations by the club’s player Mana Shim, but the Thorns did not make that public and instead said Riley’s contract was simply not renewed when it expired.
After Riley got another job coaching the Western New York Flash, which moved and became the North Carolina Courage, Shim’s allegations, along with similar charges made by ex-Thorns player Sinead Farrelly, were finally made public last year in a report in The Athletic.
Riley was quickly fired as Courage head coach.
ESPN’s report on Thursday claimed that in 2019, Paulson told North Carolina Courage owner Steve Malik that it was “a good idea” for Riley to withdraw from consideration for the USWNT job.
Paulson was reportedly concerned that if Riley had applied to coach the USWNT, then the real reason behind his Thorns departure in 2015 would become public.
The Thorns responded to ESPN’s report on Thursday, saying it was “an extremely biased and misleading article.”
Response to Jeff Carlisle’s article. #BAONPDX pic.twitter.com/rhKtSicOk2
— Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) September 1, 2022
That response generated plenty of negative reaction on Twitter including from Morgan, who played for the Thorns in 2015 and whom Shim told about some of Riley’s behavior at the time.
“We (the players of the NWSL, especially players in Portland) deserve so much better than a boys club protecting their own. Also, that statement in response by Thorns FC is just pathetic,” she charged.
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