New Zealand Football chief executive Andy Martin was feeling the heat at this afternoon's press conference regarding the Football Ferns after he revealed tour reports for the women's team were organised and submitted by coach Andreas Heraf - in his other role as technical director.
Martin was questioned by media this afternoon about whether he ever received correspondence from a former staff member highlighting concerns about the team environment after a tour earlier this year.
But Martin said the tour report in question didn't mention any need for a review.
"In that technical report... there was concerns about job clarity, job roles, changes and that was reviewed in normal course," he said.
"There was no mention in that report of the need for a review."
Martin did acknowledge that in the departed staff member's exit interview, there was a mention of being "uncomfortable with the culture that was happening on tour," but nothing that concerned him.
But Martin came under fire after he revealed who submitted the reports.
"Just to be clear, the report comes from the technical director which is a compilation of all of these teams' inputs so that report that I had had nothing from the individual we're talking about who had an issue in camp."
Heraf, who has been put on "special leave", works for New Zealand Football not only as the coach for the Football Ferns but also as the governing body's technical director.
When media asked Martin to clarify his statement meant Heraf was the one to submit reports to NZ Football, the CEO simply replied, "correct".
When challenged whether he saw that as a conflict of interest, Martin disagreed.
"I'm not sure that's the issue here - there certainly wasn't anything in that report."
NZ Football announced today an independent investigator will be appointed by the NZF executive committee in association with the NZ Professional Footballers Association to review the environment within the women's national team.
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