How serious are clubs about promoting, building, and developing their women’s sides?
How much is hot air and being seen to say the right things while the reality is that small daily decisions suggest otherwise?
Hearts will host Real Sociedad on Wednesday night at Ainslie Park. This season has been the first time that the women’s team have had exposure to European football; they played Gintra and HB Koge in their Champions League mini qualification group before dropping into the second qualifying round of the women’s Europa Cup.
That Wednesday night’s game is being played at the ground of Spartans – a European qualifier – while Tynecastle lies empty would offer a few answers to the above. Wouter Vrancken’s side play this evening at Rugby Park and, with international football now taking precedence, are not in action at Tynecastle again until October 10th.
Rangers are away first in their Europa League qualifier as they take on Hammarby. They play host to the Swedes on the 30th of this month, with the game being held at Broadwood. Ibrox is not in use again for Derek McInnes’ side until October 10th.
There is an obvious argument as to the cost of hosting games in large stadiums, but ultimately the optics around not doing so are poor for games of this magnitude.
There seems to be such a lack of appetite within clubs to push games, promote ticket sales, and make access to games straightforward. Clubs should be shouting about these games for weeks in the build-up. It should be impossible to miss the fact they are taking place.
Fans should be bombarded with information about them, and there needs to be a bit of joined-up thinking about them at every level. Growth will not come in isolation.
Otherwise the only conclusion to be drawn is that there is no authentic appetite to do so.
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AND ANOTHER THING
It is not just players who need exposure to certain levels before taking a step up.
As Eva Olid has discovered across a frantic few months in the Old Trafford hotseat, the difference in media coverage in the WSL compared to the SWPL is vast.
Gone is the solitary journalist, maybe two for a high-profile game, turning up with a couple of questions that make a small column buried deep inside the sports pages. The intensity of media coverage around the WSL is a world away from anything that is evident in Scotland, with the scrutiny intense and, one suspects, overwhelming from those unused to microscopic eyes daily.
The Spaniard has found herself in the eye of a storm, having taken over from Marc Skinner this summer with Olid put under the harshest of spotlights in these tough opening months of her regime.
There are ample reasons as to why she and United currently find themselves on the back foot; the most obvious would suggest that the lack of real investment into the squad and Jim Ratcliffe’s comments about the women’s team point to a club for whom the female side is about optics rather than anything of substance.
That aside, though, there is simply no real media analysis of the women’s game in Scotland. There is so little focus on the day-to-day events that surround managers, clubs and players that coverage scrapes the surface and little more.
When it comes to heading to a league that is light years ahead of the SWPL in terms of exposure, finances and development, there is a real shock for those who find themselves catapulted into it.
There have been ample challenges for Olid on the park. The business that they did do was done late in the window, while seven departures and four arrivals for a squad who were already said to lack depth point to the reality of the lack of investment. Ironic when consideration is given to Olid’s reasons for leaving Hearts this summer.
But off the park, there are big challenges too, given the media glare she finds herself operating under for the first time in her career.
AND FINALLY
Melissa Andreatta will name her Scotland squad on Wednesday as they prepare for the forthcoming World Cup play-off tie against Czechia.
While there is a new regime in place on the men’s side with Sebastian Pocognoli shaking things up with his squad as seven uncapped players have been called up while Oli McBurnie is back in the fold after a five-year absence, it is unlikely that there will major changes for Andreatta.
What is notable is the number of players that she is calling up from south of the border.
Erin Cuthbert returns as Chelsea captain while Caroline Weir comes into the squad as a Lyon player – and a Ballon d’Or nominee for the second time.
Kathleen McGovern has made a strong start to life at Newcastle and Andreatta will be keen to ensure that this is a squad who are capable of dealing with the pressure of the coming weeks.
Having missed out on qualification for the last three tournaments, the double header against Czechia is crucial. Come through this one and the bar goes up significantly; if successful, Scotland will take on the winners of Lithuania v Sweden with the expectation that it is the Scandinavians who will progress. Having long been a powerhouse in the women’s game, they would present an almighty challenge for Scotland.
Ensuring they make it to that final qualifier is key.
Scotland are away to Czechia on the 9th October before the return on the 13th October, with the game played at St Mirren’s ground in Paisley. Selling it out would feel like a win before a ball has been kicked.
