Campbell calls for external appointment as women’s manager
Senior international Megan Campbell has strongly urged the FAI to make an external appointment to succeed Colin Bell as manager of the Irish team and warned that anything else would be a “cop-out” and signal a regression for the women’s game here.
“We need to have the best of the best in charge of us,” said the Manchester City defender, adding that the wrong move now would leave a lot of “unhappy people in camp” and potentially “tough decisions” to make.
Campbell was shocked by the departure last month of Bell, who has taken up a coaching role at Huddersfield Town. She felt the Englishman had brought huge positive change to the women’s team, and was especially impressed with the work he did in developing younger players.
“You could see the experience and knowledge he brought into training sessions and matches,” she said.
“The amount of technical improvement in young players over that period with him in charge was unbelievable and so good for us.”
With the process under way to find Bell’s successor, U19 manager Dave Connell has been widely tipped as the favourite to fill the vacant role ahead of the commencement of 2021 European Championship qualifying in September.
But, without mentioning any potential candidates by name, Campbell made it very clear that she would prefer to see an external appointment.
“Not from within the FAI that’s worked throughout the set-ups before,” she clarified. “That’s what I mean by internal. I think it needs to go external.”
Why? “For the profession of women’s football. It’s an easy cop-out, or way out, for us to just give the job internally. It needs to be taken seriously now.
“I think if it goes internal again it’s a regression for women’s football, and what we’re after fighting for for the last three years will just all be forgotten about. I think with Euro 2021 and the hype around the Women’s World Cup and stuff, it just shows how far women’s football has come — and this is the time now to take Irish women’s football to the first major finals.
“So, I think it needs to be external, it needs to be someone who’s probably played the game, who understands national set-up as well as club set-up and someone who’s willing to put the time and effort into us progressing.”
Speaking on a visit to Kells Blackwater FC as part of the FAI’s Festival of Football, Campbell said she also thinks an experienced external appointee would be in a good position to demand the highest standards for the Girls in Green.
“100%. Someone who has experience from club or country level, both playing and as a coach previously, to come in and push and ask for things that will maybe put people in uncomfortable positions but at the end of the day it gets the results that are needed. Hopefully with the new board of the FAI in charge, that will continue to help push us and get the answers we need.”
Campbell fears that if the FAI don’t get this appointment right, the progress and momentum developed in recent times could be undone.
“100%. There will be a lot of unhappy people in camp and a lot of tough decisions may be made by players. I know personally that with the way we’ve fought for women’s football over the past number of years, I wouldn’t be able to stay involved if it was a regression. Because for me, we need to push on now. We, as players, want to qualify for a finals tournament. We want to see women’s football thrive and grow in Ireland. You see from the World Cup the nations that have done that consistently in the last number of years. You look at England, how well their league is thriving and you look at our league — and for us to continue to try and push and push, we need to have the best of the best in charge to help us get there.
“All we can do as players from the first team is push and push and push and try and improve personally. If we qualify for tournaments then the FAI have no excuse. But until we qualify for a major tournament, I think we need to take a lot of the ownership as well as players.”
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