Football Australia boss James Johnson has dismissed as silly suggestions Matildas have been pampered

Suggestions the Matildas were pampered in recent years have been rubbished by Football Australia (FA) boss James Johnson, who has branded the talk as “silly.” Johnson arrived home from the Olympics on Sunday and was hit with questions about pampering, the FA’s relationship with superstar injured captain Sam Kerr and whether former coach Tony Gustavsson lost the dressing room. In between a thrilling 6-5 win over Zambia, Australia lost 3-0 to Germany and 2-1 to the United States and failed to advance from their group. While the Matildas are arguably Australia’s most loved and popular sports teams, having sold out a succession of home games, negative narratives emerged while the team were in Paris. Johnson wasn’t concerned about the increased scrutiny the Matildas have attracted in recent times after their fourth-placed finishes at the previous Games and last year’s World Cup. “I think it’s a good thing because it shows how strong the Matildas are in the Australian community mainstream at the moment,” Johnson said. “Where it comes to some of the language around pampering it’s actually silly, they are not being pampered. “We are investing in this program the way we should because the players deserve to be treated like professionals and they are. “The reality is we set the Matildas program up the same as what we set the Socceroos up. “These are a great group of women, they are great footballers, they are playing for the biggest clubs in the world and quite frankly they deserve to have a program as good as the Socceroos. “We’ve come a long way over the past three or four years, it’s a different program the Matildas’ to what it was four years ago. “But the reality is if you compare ourselves to the United States women’s program, they are investing 300 per cent more than what we are doing, so I think we’re on the right path. “I think we’ve made a lot of good progress and I would say we would go the other way, the more we can invest in this program the better.” Johnson rejected a suggestion that the FA’s relationship with Kerr, who missed the Olympics because of a knee injury, was at an all-time low. “It’s a very good relationship,” Johnson said. “I’m in touch with Sam right now, she’s obviously doing her rehab at the moment so she’s close to getting back on the field for Chelsea and as soon as she’s available to come back into the team were looking forward to welcoming Sam back.” He also dismissed rumours of players criticising Gustavsson. “I’ve seen some of these rumours go around but I don’t think that’s correct at all,” Johnson said. “We have systems in place, we’ve put feedback channels in place over the past three years, so after every camp and after every major tournament there are feedback channels that players give to the federation on an anonymous basis. “I can categorically say that feedback has not come and since the loss to the United States I’ve had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with some of the leadership team and that’s not come up whatsoever.”