Northern Ireland Women’s captain Marissa Callaghan insists the team are fully behind Kenny Shiels after his controversial post-match remarks following Tuesday's 5-0 defeat to England.
Shiels was forced to issue an apology after claiming “women are emotional than men” after losing out to the Lionesses in the World Cup qualifier.
The 65-year-old's comments sparked criticism from a number of fans as well as former England player Ian Wright and talkSPORT presenter Laura Woods.
Read more: Kenny Shiels issues apology over controversial post-match comments
Callaghan, who played in Tuesday’s match, issued a statement on social media which said: “In light of recent events, collectively we stand by our manager.
“We feel his interview was in relation to a meeting we had as a team where we analysed that we concede goals in quick succession and emotions was one of the many things we discussed.
"Since Kenny took over our national team three years ago, I have always complimented him publicly on how he can get the best out of his players individually and collectively. He is a man of integrity who cares for us like we are family.
"Kenny has transformed the game here in Northern Ireland because he understands how to get the best out of his players."
"We have qualified for a major tournament because he transformed our mindset. We look forward to the next few months as we continue to prepare for the Euros this summer."
England opened the scoring through Lauren Hemp in the 26th minute but Shiels’ side kept the deficit to one goal at the interval before conceding four times in 27 second-half minutes.
Shiels said after the game: “I thought they were struggling a wee bit at times to open us up until the psychology of going two up.
“In the women’s game you’ll have noticed if you go through the patterns, when a team concedes a goal they concede a second one within a very short period of time.
“Right through the whole spectrum of the women’s game, because girls and women are more emotional than men, so they take a goal going in not very well.”
He added: “When we went 1-0 down we tried to slow it right down to give them time to get that emotional imbalance out of their heads. That’s an issue we have.
“It’s not just in Northern Ireland, but all countries.”
Shiels has helped galvanise the fortunes of women's football in Northern Ireland since becoming senior manager in May 2019.
He guided the team to the 2022 Euro finals where they will play England once again this summer.
Tuesday's game also saw over 15,000 fans descend on Windsor Park, a record crowd for a women's game in Northern Ireland.
In his apology on Wednesday, Shiels said: "I wish to apologise for my comments made in the post-match press conference last night. I am sorry for the offence that they have caused," Shiels said in a statement.
"Last night was a special occasion for the women’s game in Northern Ireland and I am proud to manage a group of players who are role models for so many girls, and boys, across the country.
"I am an advocate for the women's game and passionate about developing opportunities for women and girls to flourish."
Read more: Northern Ireland vs England as it happened at Windsor Park
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