‘If the best available coach happens to be female, they’ll get their head around it’published at 13:52 British Summer Time
Only the decision-makers in the Football Association know whether these games are make-or-break for Lee Carsley’s chance of landing the England job on a permanent basis.
It’s not clear how far or wide their search for Gareth Southgate’s long-term replacement will go.
As an aside to that, Emma Hayes, the manager of the United States women’s team, was asked on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme whether she could ever see a female coach taking charge of a men’s team at the highest level of the game.
“I’ve said this a million
times over – you can find a female pilot, a female doctor, a female lawyer, a
female banker, but you can’t find a female coach working in the men’s game,
leading men,” said Hayes, who led the USA to gold at the Paris Olympics.
“It just shows you how much work there is to be done. That’s why
for me it’s about those that are in charge that you have to ask the question
to.”
On the potential difficulties of women managing male players, she added: “Often people
don’t think that maybe a female can manage a dressing room of male characters – well I manage about 25 men every
day! They’re just the staff I work with.
“I never thought that the
players would be the problem. I think players want to be coached and if the
best available coach happens to be a female, they’ll get their head around it
just like they do in anything else in life.”