ALTHOUGH the short-term contract signed by Anna Signeul this month was unusual, hinting at a parting of the ways with the Scottish FA, nearly everybody was caught off guard by Tuesday’s announcement that she is to become head coach of Finland.
The players were informed by Signeul on Monday evening, shortly after arriving at their hotel in Ayia Napa for their two friendlies. There hasn’t been a changing of the guard since 2005, when Signeul replaced Vera Pauw, so it took many time to assimilate the news.
The Swede must then have spent Tuesday feeling like she was living through her own obituary. And as with all newspaper reports of people’s lives and deaths, Signeul’s work in Scotland was only fully appreciated by many once it was known she was departing.
She will be a hard act to follow.
Why did she decide to leave a job she loved? It’s no secret she was unsettled by the attitude of Brian McClair, who as well as being the former performance director at Hampden was her line manager.
Having immersed herself in every aspect of elite performance in Scotland, it is also a factor that Signeul will have a much more straightforward job in Finland. She will be head coach only and will be able to spend more time in her neighbouring home country.
“I said when I arrived in Scotland I can’t just work with the national team because that is not going to grow women’s football,” she reminisced.
“You need to have a pathway, you need to have talents coming through, and you have to increase the player pool. I wanted to work like that, but I must admit I spent too little time, I think, with the A squad players.”
There is little doubt that Signeul leaving at a time of her own choosing, and keeping control through to the Euros, is as close to a happy ending as you can get in football. It also gives her successor plenty of time to plan for the next World Cup qualifiers, which start only a month after the tournament in the Netherlands.
The SFA will advertise the post soon, a process which will introduce new candidates to add to their own ideas for a successor. The preference may well be for another woman, while another consideration may be that no Scot has been head coach since 1998.
Having got the announcement out of the way early in the week, Signeul watched her side put in a terrific second-half performance against Denmark in Larnaca on Friday. The final score was 2-2, but inspired by Erin Cuthbert the Scots deserved to win.
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