Could Sarina Wiegman be the next England (men’s) manager?

Sarina Wiegman, the manager of England’s women’s football team, probably has a lot on her mind at the moment, what with preparing for Sunday’s World Cup Final against Spain and all that. But she was given one more thing to ponder when Mark Bullingham, Chief Executive of the FA, appeared to tout her as a possible replacement for Gareth Southgate when the current England men’s team manager leaves.

Bullingham said the Lionesses coach was ‘doing a brilliant job’. And when it came to the England men’s team coaching job, he expressed his displeasure with the term ‘best man for the job’ and commented that football is ‘behind other sports in terms of a lack of female coaches at the top level’. To sledgehammer the point home, he said Wiegman could ‘do any job in football’.

Could it happen? Could the, ahem, grass ceiling, be breached and a woman appointed to a managerial position (and the top one at that) in English football for the first time? Putting aside, for those with long memories, Cheri Longhi in Channel Four’s late 80s drama The Manageress, the nearest to a female boss you will get so far in British football is Hannah Dingley at Forest Green Rovers and, in an administrative role, Karren Brady as Managing Director of Birmingham City. Wiegman would make history if she were appointed.

Is it feasible? Gareth Southgate is contracted until 2024 but unless he wins the Euros next summer, and even if he does, might well be inclined to move on after eight tough years at the helm. He said recently that he wouldn’t rule out coaching in Saudi Arabia in the future, which suggests a mega money move to the currently quite popular desert kingdom could be a possibility forming in his mind.

Wiegman is contracted until 2025 but is certain to be awarded a fresh deal even if Sunday doesn’t go well. The FA have said they expect Wiegman to see out her term, but anything can happen in the world of footballing contracts. Switching horses, from the same stable, midstream should a vacancy arise, particularly if Wiegman were coming in as a World Cup winner just as England (men) were gearing up for USA 2026 doesn’t seem beyond the realms of possibility. 

Would it work? Woe betide anyone who dared suggest a woman wasn’t up to the job in terms of ability, and Wiegman has more than proved her mettle in her tenure as Dutch and now England national team coach (Sunday will be her fourth major tournament final). Her teams appear to have that elusive, priceless quality: a winning mentality. While Southgate’s England seem capable of going a certain distance and no further and lacking the flexibility required to deal with changing circumstances, Wiegman’s England don’t appear to have a limit to their ambitions and can adapt their style and tactics as required.

Her England side can win while playing well (Colombia and Australia) and badly (Nigeria). They looked destined for an ignominious exit to Nigeria in the second round, having been outplayed and a woman down after Lauren James was expelled for stamping. They were lucky to make it to the penalties and all the force of natural justice seemed to suggest Nigeria would win. But England dug in and dispatched four splendid spot kicks to sneak through. If they don’t win on Sunday it probably won’t be due to the sort of psychological block that seems to afflict the men’s side – freighted as it is with the traumatic baggage of previous failures.

On the other hand, Wiegman has precisely zero experience of the men’s game and presumably very few, if any, contacts amongst the managers of top clubs (whose cooperation is essential for the smooth running of the national side). Much of her tactical nous accumulated over nearly 20 years of management would be transferable. But not all. The men’s and women’s games are different. And she would be dealing with different personalities in the dressing room too, with differently dimensioned egos, super wealthy premiership princelings who need careful handling. As do their agents, and the feral press pack. If it started badly, it could all unravel rather quickly.

Would the FA really want to take that chance? Cynics might suggest that Bullingham’s talk is less than entirely serious. Wiegman’s stock has never been higher and with the USA coach Vlatko Andonovski expected to leave his post soon the FA may be worried that Wiegman could be poached to replace him on money they just couldn’t match. Dangling a juicy carrot in the form of a potential epochal appointment might be an inducement to stay, even if that offer is never realised.

And anyway, all of this speculation assumes that Serena Weigman would want the job in the first place – an assumption with more than a whiff of sexism. Perhaps she has no desire to ‘make history’, especially when she has spent her entire career in women’s football and been conspicuously successful. She will become a veritable legend if England win on Sunday. Perhaps best to leave her alone to focus on that.