Many of the responses to the news that former Scotland women’s national team head coach Shelley Kerr was to be appointed as the new technical development manager at Hearts were wearyingly predictable.
There were a few, admittedly, who were willing to give Kerr an opportunity to show what she could do in the role. Most importantly, Tynecastle sporting director Graeme Jones is among them. But there were many critics screaming about ‘box-ticking exercises’ in the replies to the club’s announcement on social media too.
Ironically, I’m willing to wager that many of those experiencing such a reflexively sexist reaction to the news could probably neither explain what it is they actually mean by labelling something as ‘woke’, nor what it is that the technical development manager role entails. They were simply sure that, as a woman, Kerr is unfit to do it.
What are the only jobs that women are qualified to do in men’s football then? Selling pies? Working in the office selling tickets? Maybe the odd gig TV presenting (though, not too many of them, obviously) and a seat up the stairs in the boardroom on occasion if they have the dough to justify it?
Listen, I don't think I am what many of these blokes might deem to be a ‘snowflake’. I may even agree that in the desperate pursuit of a younger audience, some broadcasters of football in particular have made odd decisions that have been detrimental to their coverage, as they cast experienced operators aside simply because they themselves fit a box of being ‘stale, pale and male’.
So, I’m not advocating for special treatment for women nor anyone else. But neither do any of the women that I have spoken to who are involved in football, be they in the men’s game or in the women’s game. The one consistent message I have heard from almost all of them is that they wish to be treated equally and judged (and crucially, scrutinised) on their merits.
Perhaps pre-empting the reaction from some of their fanbase, Hearts laid out Kerr’s credentials in their statement, and how they will directly help her in her new role.
Her last job was as 'technical lead and head of women’s development teams' with the English FA, where ‘she played a key role in the implementation and development of the How We Play strategy for the women’s game.’ That was a key factor in her landing such a crucial role at the club, according to Jones, with the pipeline of young talent making its way through to the Hearts first team drying up dramatically in recent years.
“She will have an overview of the talent pipeline – of coaches as well as players – but fundamentally the job of Technical Development Manager is to make the route towards the first team clearer for those on the journey,” Jones said.
“As well as her coaching experience and UEFA Pro Licence, what made Shelley stand out was the work undertaken with the English FA in taking the principle of a high-performance environment and implementing key physical, tactical and technical strategies and objectives.”
When you factor in her experiences as a coach, leading the SWNT to the World Cup in 2019 as well as managing the Arsenal women’s team and – shockingly – even coaching a men’s senior side in Stirling University, then she would seem to me to be pretty qualified for the position.
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Had a male former player landed the gig without any of those experiences, such as when Steven Naismith was appointed head of the Hearts ‘B’ team, many of those who are upset at Kerr’s appointment wouldn’t have batted an eyelid, and would perhaps even have thought it a good move.
God knows though that having played men’s football is rarely a barometer for success in either coaching or managerial roles. As Naismith himself found when he got the big job at Hearts, even playing at the very top level can’t prepare you for what these roles entail.
So, instead of the eye-rolling and the scoffing about Kerr, why not afford her the same grace you would with a male appointment, and grant her a little time to see if she can help get a few more players through into the Hearts team from the youth ranks?
And if she can’t? Well, by all means, hold her to the same standard you would of anyone else in the role, and criticise the work accordingly.
Ironically, Kerr perhaps did escape any real scrutiny for a major misjudgement in her career, when she debriefed the SWNT squad after their exit from the World Cup after a few too many drinks with her dinner, upsetting players and causing a few to ponder their international futures.
She later acknowledged that she wished she done things differently, but had that been Steve Clarke, the level of coverage would have been multiplied ten-fold at the very least, and it would undoubtedly have brought an end to his Scotland reign.
But the point remains. Judge her on how she does in the job. Play the ball, not the, erm, woman.
Neither Kerr, nor any woman in football, would want it any other way.
