After alarming accusations that he had sent inappropriate texts to female players, including a request for nude photos, an Aston Villa coach resigned from the team during the previous season.
During his tenure as head coach of the women’s academy at the Premier League team, Jack Peel is accused of sending inappropriate messages, including a request for naked images, to academy players at numerous Women’s Super League clubs.
After conducting an internal investigation and receiving a complaint about Peel’s alleged behavior from a first-team squad member, Villa suspended him in September 2021.
The 27-year-old quit on the day he was scheduled to appear at Villa for a formal disciplinary hearing, but he vehemently disputes the accusations, calling them “disgusting” and “untrue.”
Villa also notified the FA of the situation, but the governing body has come under fire for not reaching out to all of the players.
Apart from exposing the accusations made against Peel, Sportsmail can disclose:
For nine months following his departure from Villa, Peel remained connected to Dosthill Colts, a Tamworth grassroots team.
The PFA wants to meet with the FA to find out what, if any, help was provided to the players. The PFA was unaware of the situation until they were contacted by Sportsmail.
The FA did not get in touch with the parents of several of his claimed adolescent victims.
“There are no answers,” a parent said to Sportsmail. It genuinely enrages me.
Since everyone is concerned about their football career, they are all too afraid to speak up. All young girls dream of having a professional contract, so if a coach messages them, they will believe he can help them get there.
Everyone is so afraid of being vocal because they are concerned about what will happen to their football career.
Every young girl dreams of having a professional contract, therefore if a coach messages you, these girls will assume he can take them anywhere.
Peel is accused of asking players at Villa who are between the ages of 16 and 18 for naked photos, making improper comments about their beauty, and asking them to meet up with him outside of the game.
“When allegations were made about Jack Peel’s behavior, the club immediately conducted an interview with him and suspended him.
We also promptly notified the FA and other relevant authorities,” an Aston Villa spokesperson told Sportsmail.
Peel was suspended while a formal disciplinary hearing was taking place, as is customary in situations like this. He resigned before the hearing.
“Aston Villa provided complete cooperation to the Football Association, who oversees Governing Body safeguarding inquiries.” As such, we are unable to comment on their final penalties.
“The club meets all statutory requirements set by The FA and Premier League in this sector and takes its safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously.”
Peel, who worked at Birmingham before joining Villa in the summer of 2020, also knew players from West Brom and Wolves from his time at the Elite Football Academy, a private coaching facility.
The now-defunct organization had high-profile clientele including West Brom defender Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey, providing specialized one-on-one training to both male and female players.
According to Sportsmail, a number of players who claimed to have received messages from Peel, they would start out asking questions about football before getting more flirty and seeking to meet up outside of training.
According to rumors, Peel would question players why they weren’t responding when they weren’t asked to send him nude photos.
Players have spoken to Sportsmail about the upsetting effect Peel’s alleged behavior has had on their life; one player said the messages made her detest football.
Another person who had received a message from Peel expressed discomfort to Sportsmail about having to practice and perform squats in front of him.
She added that she now feels uncomfortable around other male instructors as a result of the event.
Concerning the FA’s handling of the case, a number of the parents of the accused victims have expressed their annoyance at not being approached personally. There hasn’t been any unbiased examination of Peel’s accusations yet.
Until this month, the PFA were similarly ignorant of the matter.
“These are obviously very worrying allegations and we are seeking more detail on how these have been handled,” a PFA spokeswoman stated.
“The FA has strong safeguarding measures in place, and all referrals to The FA are handled in line with our policies and procedures,” an FA representative stated. We don’t discuss specific cases here.
