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The managerial market in the women's game is difficult

It might currently be the January transfer window but over the past month, managers have taken centre stage. Chelsea’s recruitment process to replace Emma Hayes has seen stories about demands for a female manager and hints of a three person short list. Sarina Wiegman has extended her England contract to 2027, with Bev Priestman doing the same in Canada. Casey Stoney signed a new deal with San Diego Wave - ruling herself out of the Chelsea job - whilst Jonatan Giraldez was announced as the new Washington Spirit manager.

The demand for good managers within the women’s game is fast intensifying. As more clubs and nations invest resources into their teams, simply being the biggest spenders is no longer enough. But the managerial market is still restricted - elite jobs are few and far between and very few managers have a level of experience that justifies them as shoe-ins for a top job. The ones that do tend to be held onto very tightly by their current employers.

Even what counts as significant experience can feel very overstated. Take Casey Stoney, for example. Stoney was probably the stand-out candidate for the Chelsea job. She has a personal link to the club, having been part of their academy and playing for them as an adult where she was briefly player-manager. She has twice demonstrated her ability to build teams from scratch with first Manchester United and now San Diego Wave. But she has only been in management for five seasons and in that time has won just the English second division and the NWSL Shield.

There is no doubt that Stoney is extremely talented but for her to be seen as pretty much the number one candidate says a lot about the paucity of potential names available. It also highlights the fact that teams are forced to look beyond CVs - not necessarily a bad thing.

The plausibility of the story that Chelsea were targeting a female manager based off of the wishes of their senior players demonstrates a recognition of this. Despite it being revealed that this was not actually the case, the way that Emma Hayes has created a football culture that centres women, rather than treating them as ‘small men’ makes it understandable that both Chelsea players and the club would want to preserve this.

In a recent interview on Counter Pressed, former Washington Spirit and Netherlands Women’s National Team manager Mark Parsons also talked about the importance of being able to connect with players in a way that goes beyond simple gender essentialism but instead reflects a different approach to the one that is sometimes seen in the men’s game. This makes the assessment of who is prepared for the role also much more complex, as well as limiting the realism of being able to go and recruit from within the men’s game, where high profile appointments have often looked underprepared and out of their depth. 

Less impressive CVs is also a result of the relative lack of elite jobs within the women’s game in which to prove yourself. Realistically, there are about ten or so clubs who are seen as being in the very top tier in Europe. NWSL jobs are also highly thought of but concerns around the differing styles of play between Europe and America seems to have limited cross-Atlantic pollination. That is changing, however, with Juan Carlos Amoros’ success in winning the NWSL Championship with Gotham FC neatly highlighting this development. Jonatan Giraldez’s recruitment to the Washington Spirit is set to take the tactical focus in the NWSL to an even higher level. 

There are also more European sides becoming seen as feasible steps towards bigger jobs.

As more teams invest further, managers are being given resources that allow them to really show what they can do. As more clubs reach a reasonable level, their successes become easier to identify. Ajax is an interesting example of this. Their manager Suzanne Bakker has not had her contract renewed for the end of the season but their performances in a tough Champions League group will surely make her an attractive prospect for other clubs at that level. But in past years, a manager like Bakker would not have had the resources at her disposal to even really compete at that level.

It is telling right now how many teams have been keen on giving coaches more time. Manchester City hastily gave Gareth Taylor an extra year on his contract despite a disappointing season where they finished fourth and failed to make a domestic cup final. Arsenal quickly tied down Jonas Eidevall to a three year contract which was announced even as it coincided with a tough start to 2023/24. Canada are keeping Bev Priestman regardless of their embarrassing group stage exit at the World Cup. Eidevall’s situation is slightly different to the other two given his injury asterisked second season in charge but women’s football is obviously a lot less trigger happy than men’s.

Managerial appointments will offer risks of some kind, especially for big clubs, but currently in the women’s game, the risk feels particularly high. With Stoney and Laura Harvey out of the race, Chelsea look likely to appoint someone relatively unheard of to what is close to the biggest role in club football. Barcelona are going to hire internally, as they did after Lluis Cortes departed. And the examples of Jean-Luc Vasseur at Everton and Jens Scheuer at Brighton show that CV is not everything. It makes an already complex process even more difficult, and means it is also important to analyse managerial choice with that in mind.