Farewell Fran, but what now for Celtic?
Fran Alonso is departing the Glasgow club to take up the mantle at Houston, a chance to lead a club with a strong women's football structure, leaving a gap at Celtic. Who could fill it?
Theo Lloyd-Hughes has broken the news, and the SWPL’s loss is very much Houston’s gain. Fran Alonso was an extremely popular figure amongst Celtic fans. His passionate exuberance, exciting tactics, and tendency to wear a white linen jacket for the big occasions all adding to his cult status in the East end of Glasgow. Fans of other clubs will point to his failure to win an SWPL title in his three year tenure but even they know deep down that it was only a matter of time until he did with successes coming in back to back Scottish Cup wins and the SWPL Cup win in 2021. He will be a tough act to follow, leading Celtic into their full-time era and fully embracing life at the club has made sure that he will forever be a key figure in Celtic history.
For fans of the NWSL side, they will be getting an extremely passionate manager who has a clear style of play. He has shown an ability to get the most out of the players at his disposal during his time at Celtic, as well as to scout and sign some extremely talented players. He has reportedly complained about Celtic’s resources as he departs, we understand that that relates more to the facilities and organisational structure than playing budget. But, he’s a cult hero for a reason and we are very excited to see how he gets on in what many believe is the best league in the world. An opportunity that you can’t really begrudge him for taking. The image of him bounding around the media room at Tynecastle, a smile as wide as can be on his face as he high fives and hugs various members of the media following his side’s SWPL Cup win, will live long in our memory of the departing head coach. He’s a character that fans of his team, and many neutrals, will love.
Departing mid-season will hurt but he will go with well wishes as an understandably huge opportunity awaits in the states, but what now for Celtic? Who could they look to to continue the project the 47-year-old leaves behind? We’ve had a look at some of the options that may be on the table.
Disclaimer: this is not based on inside knowledge, these are just managers that we like for the role. However, Celtic if you do hire one of them our messages are open to discuss a finders’ fee.
Eva Olid
Hearts fans won’t be thanking us for this but turning to Alonso’s friend and former mentee feels like a natural succession. There are no guarantees that Alonso doesn’t take her to Houston (where she previously coached with the Houston Dynamo) as assistant, nor is there any guarantee that she’d leave the Edinburgh club where she recently committed herself for another two years.
Tactically is where this move really clicks, she mirrors Alonso’s desire to play a controlled possession style that switches to devastating speed in attack in a flash; she has often lined up Hearts in a 3-5-2 which is also one of Celtic’s preferred formations; and, she has shown a fantastic ability to adapt to her situation whether that be personnel or opposition which is crucial for a top job. Hearts’ rapid growth under her and ability to challenge teams with greater resources could be an attractive choice for the Celtic hierarchy who will no doubt be looking at the newly announced second tier European competition with desire.
Eva Olid also has the benefit (and cliché) or ‘knowing the league’. Whether or not you put much weight on that is up to you but it does mean the adjustment period should be minimal with regard to the ongoing title fight.
Sarah Lowdon
The outgoing Houston Dash interim manager, and former assistant, could find a perfect situation in Glasgow. She is looking for ‘new opportunities’ (which we all know means a head coach role) and a move closer to her home of Newcastle is sure to be attractive after her time away from home. She may have loftier aspirations with the reputation of the SWPL on the world stage not as high as it should be, but this could be a really good fit.
For Celtic they would be getting someone who in her time as interim head coach recorded six wins, six losses, and three draws. Bearing in mind that those were games in a situation where she was restabilising the club after managers departed (one moved club, the other sacked). She was praised for her in possession set up, with many hoping she would receive the position full time.
She may need some time to get up to speed with the league but this could be a solid long term option, that leads the club down a similar but different path.
Amy Merricks
The former Brighton assistant let the club to take up a role in England’s youth system but she left after just a few months. She holds a UEFA Pro license and has successfully taken interim charge of Brighton in the past. This could be the perfect opportunity for her to take a full time role.
Does it sound like she probably has something lined up? Yes. Would we have the same Jo Potter shaped concerns about someone coming from England that doesn’t have the knowledge of the Scottish game and potentially sees it as a weak league? Yes (although that hasn’t gone too badly so far, eh?).
Tactically she hasn’t had too much experience in charge to really show what she wants to do but there was high praise for her Brighton side and her England under-19 stint. She’s got a lot of experience developing young players which is important for any SWPL job but has also been around experienced professionals and knows what it takes to get them on side.
David Haley
Haley is Alonso’s current assistant and has been with the club since 2009, whatever future lies ahead he will surely be part of it. He has managed the club before spending five years in charge between 2013 and 2018, however, that was a totally different set of circumstances than the full-time set up that the club currently boasts.
Nobody knows the club like Haley does, there have quite literally only been two years of the club’s existence that he has not been involved in, and he has spent the last four years learning under Fran Alonso. There’s always the tactics and recruitment question mark when promoting assistant managers from within and his previous experience came in a totally different set of circumstances for the club so likely wouldn’t reflect what would happen was he to be appointed.
What we do know is that he would certainly make a qualified candidate, at least for the short term as the club get to grips with life after Fran. We are making the assumption that he wants to be the manager again, he might be happy with life as an assistant. Fran may also want him to join the set up in Houston, the future is chaos, no one knows what might happen next. Which leads us nicely on to…
Carmelina Moscato
You know we had to throw one wildcard in, she even owns a white blazer so it would be a seamless transition! Moscato is a former Canada international who was most recently in charge of Tigres but is now working as a pundit. She was the first foreign coach to win the Apertura (first league stage of Mexican competition) and is a member of the Canada football hall of fame. There may be some concerns that she has never held a job for more than a year but that is all it takes to win a title, which Celtic desperately crave. She is also reportedly looking for a project to take over long term (although that may include more control than Celtic are willing to give up, and Alonso’s complaints may not be a fight she wants to take on).
The biggest plus point here is that she is extremely well spoken about by her former players. One recounting how when she revealed to her that she was pregnant, expecting bad news about her status at the club, she was met with care and compassion. She sounds exactly like the kind of person you want to be your boss. She was also involved in Tigres’ ground-breaking partnership with Bayern Munich, a deal that allows the sharing of knowledge between the two and offers a ‘study abroad’ programme for academy players to help them gain experience of an elite environment in another country. Exactly the kind of forward thinking that is needed to grow the game and develop young players.
Moscato would be a risk, she likely isn’t well versed in the SWPL or its players and her tactical style is removed from Fran Alonso’s. She did also benefit from the talents of Mia Fishel while at Tigres, now of Chelsea she was by far the best player in Mexico at the time. Can she replicate the success with a squad that is more equal to her competitors? Would she want to take a job on a different continent than the one she lives in? Is she holding out for an NWSL gig? It is impossible to guess but it would be an ambitious hire for the Celts.
The manager market in women’s football is a strange place, incredible managers seem to appear out of thin air at times. We wouldn’t be shocked for it to be none of the above and for Celtic to appoint someone we’ve genuinely never heard of before.
Celtic fans let us know, who do you want to replace Fran? Someone we’ve said, someone else (bonus points if we have to google them)? Let us know in the comments below! Now, away to worry about what SWPL ballers Fran might try to sign…