ONE of the many reasons Glasgow City have dominated Scottish women's football for the past 15 years is stability. Former Republic of Ireland No 2 Eileen Gleeson, who starts tomorrow, will become just their fourth permanent head coach this century.
Which means Grant Scott, who has been in charge on an interim basis since Scott Booth's departure for Birmingham City, will bid farewell to the club after today's SWPL 1 game against Hibernian at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
As he says himself, you couldn't script it. Scott led Hibs to two League Cup wins and one Scottish Cup triumph in his two seasons as head coach. And his last match? Against Glasgow City in the final of the 2019 Scottish Cup at Tynecastle, with City winning 4-3 thanks to Clare Shine's superb late goal.
With one game to go, Scott's record is 12 wins, three draws and one defeat in his 16 competitive matches in charge. None of these has been against his old club.
“When I first came to City I looked for the Hibs fixture,” he admitted. “It's strange that it's my last game, no doubt about that.”
The one defeat, against Swiss champions Servette, was expensive as it cost City a place in the Champions League group stage and a guaranteed £345,000. But for Scott the bigger regret was the manner of the 2-1 loss after his side missed a good opportunity to double their 1-0 lead in the second leg at Broadwood.
That, and the 2-2 draw against Celtic, when his side dominated the first half, led 2-0, and had a stonewall penalty denied, are Scott's big regrets. But overall, I'm immensely proud to have been the manager for a short period, and immensely proud of my record,” he said.
Scott reckons Hibs are a stronger side than last season and are already as good as guaranteed fourth place if they are unable to close the gap on the three leaders. City, meanwhile, will return to the top of the table if they beat today's opponents and Celtic beat Rangers at the Penny Cars Stadium.
Rangers are still very much in pole position, two points clear of City and Celtic, but were beaten by the latter for a fourth time in twelve months in last Sunday's League Cup quarter final. Scoring goals for fun against the bottom six sides, but failing to win games against their two closest rivals, is becoming a pattern which Rangers will be anxious to break at the Penny Cars Stadium.
And another thing...
ALL 17 SWPL clubs have been invited to Falkirk Stadium on Tuesday by Scottish Women's Football chief executive Aileen Campbell. The occasion should provide a much-needed opportunity to progress the governance issue.
As reported here last week, seven of the ten SWPL 1 clubs want greater urgency from SWF in providing them with details of a new model for next season. The danger for the governing body in not complying is that it will open the door for the SPFL to step through – and they could provide an alternative scenario which the majority of clubs might find enticing.
It is also a key aim of the Scottish FA's strategic review to have an improved governance model for elite women's competitions in place from 2022-23 onwards. Women's football is a fast-moving landscape and significantly more commercial income needs to be found if the professional game is to continue to grow.
The dilemma for the top clubs is that SWF don't currently have the resources or expertise to make that happen. However, throwing their lot in with the SPFL could leave them marginalised and an afterthought to the men's game.
Might a hybrid model be the solution?
And a final thing...
HAVING succeeded in being allocated a fairer 13-14 split of home and away fixtures than the originally scheduled 12-15, Aberdeen travelled 40 miles to Brechin for their “home” league game against Glasgow City on Wednesday.
Glebe Park is not a designated Aberdeen ground, but the league management committee agreed to the game being played there as it complies (probably by a distance) with SWPL 1 ground criteria.
So why Brechin?
Aberdeen official Emma Flett explained that Balmoral Stadium was booked to host the game on its original date of October 24 – but matches that day were postponed because of the international window. The Cove venue was not available on Wednesday and Cormack Park, where Aberdeen played their SWPL 2 games, has no covered seating and therefore doesn't meet top division criteria.
With Pittodrie ruled out due to a combination of men's fixtures and the weather, a 55-minute trip south was the best solution.
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