New Spain Manager Montse Tome cut a confident figure when she announced her first squad in charge of La Roja, but it has not taken long for the ‘new era’ to become mired in similar drama to that which engulfed her predecessor Jorge Vilda.
Tome tried to distance herself from Vilda, but 20 of her 23-woman squad for their Nations League ties against Sweden and Switzerland had publicly stated that they did not want to play for Spain until there were profound changes in women’s football and the RFEF.
The presumption was that Tome had spoken with the players, and had their consent to call them up, but a statement emitted by those 20 players made it clear that this wasn’t the case, and that they were standing strong in their desire to strike for better conditions.
Tome had said during her press conference that leaving Jenni Hermoso out of the team was the best way to ‘protect’ her following the Luis Rubiales kiss scandal, but Hermoso responded with a statement of her own. She categorised the call-up as another attempt to manipulate and divide the players, and asked what it was that Tome was protecting her from.
Relevo say that some of Tome’s statements during her press conference were in fact lies. Tome claimed that she had ‘spoken with all of the players’, and that ‘none of them had told her they did not want to be called up’. This, they report, is false. Many of the players were taken by surprise when they were called up, and hadn’t spoken to Tome whatsoever since declaring they would not be returning until those changes took place.
Tome did speak to Hermoso before the call-up, but not about the upcoming squad, nor whether she felt in a position to return to Spain duty.
She also allegedly lied about her role in the infamous Luis Rubiales press conference. Tome claimed that the social pressure to applaud instigated her own actions, before going home and putting out a statement saying that her job was at the disposition of the RFEF.
“The truth is that I didn’t feel good that day. We had to come here because they told us to, we sat there and well all the things that were happening there… I don’t feel part of it. In reality I didn’t feel good. I did applaud both times. What I applauded that day was when Luis Rubiales said that we are all world champions. Also when he told me that I was going to be the sporting director. After going home, I really felt truly calm when I released the statement.”
This statement is false. Relevo say that based on the video evidence from the RFEF broadcast from the event, on at least seven occasions Tome applauded Rubiales, including the two instances she mentions.
Tome was keen to convey the message that this was a fresh start for Spain, and that her regime had little to do with the previous one. However if she was hoping to base her relations with the players on trust, then her time has not gotten off to a good start.