One day after the deeply troubling revelations in the Sally Yates investigation into abuse and misconduct in the NWSL, Portland Thorns owner Merritt Paulson has temporarily stepped aside from decision-making duties at the club.
In a statement released Tuesday on social media and on the club site, Paulson said that until findings from the joint NWSL/NWSL Players Association investigation are released, he — along with president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson and the club’s president of business operations Mike Golub — will relinquish active control.
“I have told the NWSL that I will be removing myself effective today from all Thorns-related decision making until the joint investigation, which we are fully cooperating with, is released,” read the statement, which was authored by Paulson. “Gavin Wilkinson and Mike Golub will do the same. All Thorns related decisions until that time that any of us would have made will now be handled by Heather Davis, our General Counsel.”
While the Yates report revealed deep-rooted abuse and malfeasance at multiple clubs, its revelations about the Thorns undercut claims that the club had done all that it could in discussing Paul Riley, who had been fired by the Thorns after a complaint from Mana Shim about sexual coercion and retaliatory conduct, with the Western New York Flash.
Riley was fired by Portland following the 2015 season, but the announcement of that move positioned the choice as being mutual and included well-wishes for Riley on Portland’s behalf.
The Flash would go on to hire Riley in 2016, and he would remain in charge of the club when they relocated and became the North Carolina Courage. Riley was only terminated in 2021, after a report in The Athletic detailed years of misconduct.
Portland accused of not cooperating
In particular, the report says that Portland supplied the Flash with a glowing recommendation for Riley, including a comment to “get him if (the Flash) could,” and statements indicating that Wilkinson held Shim responsible for Portland having to dismiss Riley.
The Yates report also hammered Portland for impeding the investigation, citing an open letter Paulson wrote that promised transparency before detailing multiple instances in which investigators felt stymied by the Thorns as an organization.
“The Thorns’ lack of cooperation delayed our investigation,” said the Yates report, detailing a refusal to hand over documents, “specious arguments,” and attempts to either discourage witnesses from speaking to investigators, including the outright refusal of Golub to submit to an interview as issues it ran into while trying to look into the issues in Portland.
Wilkinson was for a time placed on administrative leave, but Thorns players said they “recognized (his) reinstatement” in January 2022, and his role as the club’s president of soccer means that Thorns GM Karina LeBlanc ultimately reports to him. In August, details from an investigation by the law firm DLA Piper said that they found no wrongdoing on Wilkinson’s behalf, though crucially, the law firm’s interview process did not include Shim or another witness.
Paulson and Wilkinson have long been the subject of consistent protests at Thorns and Portland Timbers matches, with banners and chants calling for Paulson to sell and for Wilkinson to be fired. Most recently, 107ist — the umbrella organization for both clubs’ supporters groups — posted a statement on Tuesday demanding that Paulson sell both teams, and that both Wilkinson and Golub be dismissed from their roles.
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