In November last year the Football Association released a strategy for the future of women’s football entitled Inspiring Positive Change.
Among the various promises and targets, English football’s governing body stated an aim for 75% of female coaches to be in manager or head coach roles.
With the victorious England team at Euro 2022 being led by Sarina Wiegman, and Chelsea manager Emma Hayes being one of the most recognisable bosses in the domestic game currently, it appears at first that English football is being driven from the top towards this ambitious aim.
But across the Women’s Super League (WSL) this is not the case.
Following Hope Powell’s departure from Brighton and the appointment of Jens Scheuer, only a third of current WSL managers are female.
They are Hayes at Chelsea, Carla Ward with Aston Villa, Reading’s Kelly Chambers and Tottenham manager Rehanne Skinner.
It is reasonable to expect some flux in these proportions, given there are fewer clubs in the top women’s divisions in comparison to men’s football – 24 in the WSL and Women’s Championship, 44 in the Premier League and Championship.
“We continue to develop our female coaches and prepare them for the professional game. There are a number of strong female coaches who have the requisite experience and knowledge to lead and coach in the women’s pro game,” an FA spokesperson told BBC Sport.
However, as the audience for women’s football grows, the spotlight on managers grows ever brighter – and so does the pressure to get results, to the extent that even extensive experience and knowledge cannot be enough to save a job.
Powell managed England from 1998 to 2013, becoming one of the first household names in women’s football management. She took charge of Brighton in July 2017 and established them as a respected mid-table side in WSL.
But she was dismissed after four defeats in five games to start 2022-23. While the catalyst for her departure was an 8-0 home defeat against Tottenham, the other three losses were against title-chasing Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea – sides Brighton would not ordinarily be expected to beat.