CELTIC'S search for a new men's manager concluded on Thursday after 106 days. That's a long weekend compared to the 171 and counting since Shelley Kerr departure as Scotland women's head coach.

The unwanted six month landmark is due to arrive a week on Thursday. But of course, as the mantra goes, it's better to take time to ensure getting the right person than appointing the wrong one in haste.

Well, yes. Up to a point – which has long passed.

To be clear, the recently appointed head of girls' and women's football, Fiona McIntyre, is not responsible for this ever growing hiatus. She started her job in March, and an indication of how low women's football has sunk on the SFA board's priorities is that the position lay vacant for 18 months.

The remaining 2019 World Cup qualification money has still not been distributed, and nor has the women's strategy been made public although it was completed last year. 

There's a pattern here, and it long precedes McIntyre's arrival.

Consequently, and for the second time, Scotland have gone into the current double-header of friendlies with Scotland under-16 men's coach Stuart McLaren in charge. He chose a largely second string side for Thursday's 1-0 win over a similarly weakened Northern Ireland.

The difference is that Kenny Shiels saw the game as an opportunity for younger players to implement the style of football he has chosen for the World Cup qualifiers and next year's Euro finals in England. They largely did it very well, which will be more important to the Northern Ireland head coach than losing the game to substitute Caroline Weir's late penalty.

Conversely, unless McLaren is awarded the job on a permanent basis the match had almost no purpose for Scotland. And if he doesn't get it, whoever does will have no real time to bed in ahead of the first qualifier against Hungary in September.

That's not fair on the players, and nor is it fair on McLaren, who is open, intelligent and has good people-management skills. He appears to want the job on a permanent basis, yet wasn't even first choice among the SFA's coaching staff to take interim charge in February.

McLaren acted pro-actively for the current double-header, adding Bristol City head coach Tanya Oxtoby, who is on maternity leave, to his coaching staff. Presumably if he was to get the job and the Australian feels she can handle nine day absences from her baby son – born on March 23 – it would become a longer term arrangement.

The interim head coach has made big calls, dropping 103-times capped Hayley Lauder for both camps and the squad's top scorer Jane Ross for the Northern Ireland and Wales games. He has, over the piece, also given first caps to Lisa Robertson, Brianna Westrup, Leah Eddie and Christy Grimshaw.

These are not the actions of a coach who has come in on an interim basis merely to keep a steady hand on the tiller. Yet, and while giving him credit for trying hard to make his mark, McLaren's CV doesn't appear to include the experience and achievement which should be mandatory for such an important job.

The SFA board have got away with this entirely unsatisfactory state of affairs because, unlike their Celtic counterparts, they don't have tens of thousands of irate fans on their case on a daily basis. But that doesn't absolve them, as the governing body, of leaving their national women's team in head coach limbo for so long.

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CONGRATULATIONS to Glasgow City for making it 14-in-a-row Scottish titles, and to Celtic for securing the second available Champions League place. On what turned out to be a surprisingly tame final Sunday, the top two beat Rangers and Motherwell without having to break undue sweat.

Celtic's pre-match Covid issue – a player tested positive on Saturday evening – could have had serious ramifications had they been playing one of the other top five teams. But even with several under-19 players involved they coasted to an 8-0 win.

The results, coming at the end of a season nobody will ever want to repeat, confirmed Rangers' sharp reverse. Even allowing for losing main striker Kirsty Howat to injury, the two month decline from league leaders to distant third was inexplicable.

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AILEEN Campbell was finally confirmed as the new CEO of Scottish Women's Football on Wednesday. It's far from ideal that, as a retiring MSP, she is unable to take up her post immediately, but the appointment of the former Minister of Public Health and Sport (and avid St Johnstone fan) has been well received.