Arsenal Women Interim Head Coach Renee Slegers says she was shocked and saddened by the resignation of Jonas Eidevall as Head Coach this week. The Swede offered his resignation to the club on Monday, with the playing group informed of the decision on Tuesday morning.
Slegers joined the Arsenal coaching staff last summer having succeeded Eidevall’s previous job at Rosengard in 2021. The Dutch coach, who will take the Gunners for the next two games at least as a permanent replacement is sought, says she was shocked when Eidevall informed her of his intention to resign.
‘I spoke to him yesterday afternoon and was shocked by the news,’ Slegers said in her pre Valerenga press conference. ‘I was very sad because he has been a good leader for the staff and I worked with him before in Sweden and we worked really well together, I am very sad it got to this point.’
Slegers, who has Head Coach experience in Sweden and was a Dutch international as a player, admitted that coaching a club like Arsenal brings with it greater scrutiny. ‘Especially at a big club like Arsenal, it is different to Netherlands and Sweden where I have worked before. I haven’t worked in England for so long but I followed from the outside. It comes with a lot of positives and it is very big and alive, a lot of fans and a lot of people involving and engaging, so it’s positive but it comes with pressure too.’
Slegers, who would not be drawn on whether she would like to apply for the Head Coach role permanently, says she was asked to take over the team on an Interim basis shortly after Eidevall’s resignation. ‘When I got the question yesterday, I felt that if this is how we need to go forward then I am happy to do it. I care about the team, I care about the players. I have been here for a year now and it’s a massive club, so I am happy to help.’
Pressed on whether she wanted the role long-term, Slegers said, ‘Right now, I just focus on these next two games for us, which are very important for us. The future, I am not so concerned about right now.’ She also insisted she was not prepared to be asked to be Interim Head Coach, ‘No, I was not prepared, I was totally loyal to the work I was doing for Jonas and the team.’
Slegers suggested the tough start to the season has been difficult for all concerned and she praised Eidevall’s resilience, ‘He told me yesterday and I feel a lot of respect for him, he has been very resilient for a long time. He has been working incredibly hard for a long time so all I feel is respect for him.’
She also suggested the players and coaching staff won’t have any issues focusing on Wednesday night’s UWCL game.‘We all had our eyes on the next game tomorrow and we stay there, the whole staff and the players have their eyes set on tomorrow. It is even more important for us to be in the moment and be in the here and now to focus on the task in front of us.’
Arseblog News asked Slegers who will back fill her previous position for the next two games. Last season, Slegers acted as a liaison point between the coach and the analysts on match day but she told us that had changed for this season anyway.
‘This season we changed, so it is Aaron (D’Antino) in contact with Mel (Clarke-Reed) on the bench, now there is a free seat so we are going to have a meeting this afternoon with the staff and organise ourselves.’ Arseblog News also asked Slegers whether she is relishing being a Head Coach again, even if only briefly.
‘I am looking forward to pushing these small margins, I think it has been about small margins recently and that is what I was looking forward to, getting on the right side of that and putting a couple of extra per cent in as a staff and players group and getting things over the line and turned around, that is what I look forward to.’
‘We have really good staff, we work well together, a lot of things were already prepared behind the scenes. Everything stays the same for players, we only have a task in front of us and that is what we are going to focus on.’
Just watched this interview of hers. She seems smart and composed, hopefully she will do a good job and maybe become head coach!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGpoDql27R8
Shocked she’s “shocked” tho
Everyone needs to get behind Renee and players now, the players who are off form don’t need slagging off, they need support, thankfully the game tomorrow is at Meadow Lane which has always shown nothing but support. Anyone spouting harmful and personal derogatory comments that has been seen on social media need to F**K off.
Well said. We need to pull together.
Concur 100%
It won’t be at Emirates?
Yes it’s at the emirates, my error
Typo alert – it’s Meadow *Park*.
Congratulations on your promotion, Renee Slegers, regardless of the circumstances. I have every faith in you.
As I said on another thread she is a manager in her own right and may just surprise a few people. At the moment this is the team we have so let’s go with full support. I think there will be a certain amount of relief with the players knowing that there is a regime change and they may start performing again. My only ‘if only’ is that if Jonas had made this decision slightly earlier we may still have had Viv and Cloe in the squad!