{"id":483785,"date":"2026-06-05T03:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/483785\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T03:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:09:10","slug":"katie-mccabe-takes-social-media-break-after-chelsea-switch-to-concentrate-on-ireland-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/483785\/","title":{"rendered":"Katie McCabe takes social media break after Chelsea switch to concentrate on Ireland duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Ireland<\/a> captain Katie McCabe has taken herself off from social media following the backlash from moving to Chelsea from fierce rivals Arsenal this week.<\/p>\n

In a now-deleted post, the player\u2019s mother Sharon expressed her ‘disgust’ at the abuse, confirming her daughter was privy to the nastiness from fans of a club she served for 10 years. Furthermore, her dad Gary said Arsenal\u2019s offer of a 12-month extension was an insult, convincing McCabe she wasn\u2019t wanted by the Gunners hierarchy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for any parent using social media and seeing a lot of abuse thrown their child\u2019s way is difficult to take,\u201d the 30-year-old said about the barrage of online barbs. \u201cThis is probably the first big announcement of my career, leaving a massive football club to move to another big club. So, it\u2019s new territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ve stayed off social media this week because my full concentration has been on these two huge games with Ireland against Netherlands and France. I\u2019ve got a lot of support from our manager Carla Ward, my teammates and the staff here with Ireland, so I\u2019m in a good place mentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t condone any abuse and don\u2019t think that\u2019s the way forward when these things happen. That\u2019s football and these people are humans at the end of the day and have feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy way of dealing with it is removing myself and staying away from it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

McCabe revealed she had opened negotiations with Chelsea before Arsenal\u2019s controversial Champions League quarter-final. Although holders Arsenal progressed, their victory was marred by an incident that saw McCabe escape a red card for pulling the hair of Alyssa Thompson.<\/p>\n

Now McCabe will be working with manager Sonia Bompastor, who was sent off for her protests, and the US international victim Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it didn\u2019t,\u201d she said when asked if the flashpoint complicated the free transfer. \u201cHaving spoken with the manager Sonia a couple of months back, I understood what she wanted and the project she was trying to create at Chelsea so I wanted to be part of that.<\/p>\n

\n For me I wanted to compete in the English Women\u2019s Super League, which is the best league in the world in my opinion.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

“You\u2019ve seen that with how attractive it is with top, top players from all over the world wanting to play there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to win trophies like the WSL and Champions League again, so Chelsea was a perfect fit for that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"KatieKatie McCabe battles Anna Patten at SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh. Picture: Stephen McCarthy\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Moving clubs, but not cities, means she\u2019ll square up against her partner Caitlin Foord. The Australian was also out of contract with the Gunners but is poised to pen an extension.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely fine with it,\u201d McCabe said with a smile. \u201cThere\u2019s rivalry there between Chelsea and Arsenal but we\u2019re both professional, both want to win and be competitive so no issues there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was reluctant to criticise Arsenal\u2019s stance, which only changed late in the season with a belated attempt to compete with Chelsea\u2019s offer of a three-year contract, plus the option of another 12 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up at Arsenal, learning so much as a player and as a person, I’ve got a lot of respect for every single person back at the club and all my teammates,\u201d she reflected.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, it’s been difficult over the last few months for me, but I think it’s the right time now for a new chapter in my career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was coming to the end of a journey. You\u2019d naturally find it hard leaving somewhere after 10 years but your time comes.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it\u2019s time for something new, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m really excited for.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

WINNER<\/p>\n

Dutch captain Dominique Janssen will renew acquaintances with his former Arsenal teammate at SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh, proud to have observed the growth of a cub into a leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would describe Katie as a winner, someone who does everything for her team to get a result,\u201d said the Manchester United centre-back.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes she can be nasty but you need that in football.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n People don\u2019t like playing against her but I\u2019m curious to see how the move to Chelsea goes because the journey is exciting.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a few years since I played on her Arsenal team but she\u2019s developed a lot in her leadership skills. I hadn\u2019t seen that in my time but have since as Ireland captain and being a big part of Arsenal\u2019s successes. She\u2019ll be a big player for Chelsea.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland captain Katie McCabe has taken herself off from social media following the backlash from moving to Chelsea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6898,61,60,43,18998],"class_list":["post-483785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-chelsea","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-wnt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}