Money talks in the women’ s game too

The rise and rise of women’s football has been a great story. And there’s plenty of mileage left in it, that’s for sure.

St Johnstone were the latest club to get a good crowd into their main stadium to watch the women’s team play last week.

The media exposure in Scotland has gone through the roof and that’s nothing compared to the profile of the game south of the border.

I noticed that Bristol City’s relegation from the WSL and Crystal Palace’s promotion will mean that, for the first time, every team in the top league will be affiliated to a men’s Premier League club.

Long gone are the days when Doncaster Belles were the biggest team around.

And, up here, Glasgow City were the champions last season but you wouldn’t be surprised if this year’s Celtic versus Rangers head-to-head is the sign of things to come.

Money talks in women’s football as much as in men’s.

That’s only going to become more pronounced as the years go by.

Whether you like it or not, the identity of the women’s and men’s games are likely to run in tram lines.

Of more concern to me is the shifting of the balance of who coaches the teams.

Emma Hayes has said that leaving Chelsea for the United States had a lot to do with her work-life balance and the Aston Villa coach, Carla Ward, is about to step down from her post so she can spend more time with her young daughter.

Surely there has to be a way that young mums who are also football coaches can be better supported in their jobs.

When I was at the recent Players Championship in Canada, I was one of only two female coaches.

And that’s curling – a sport where there’s never been an imbalance in popularity and financial rewards between the women’s and men’s games.

There’s no reason why that should be the case.

In football, I’ve seen co-managers as a suggestion and I think that makes a lot of sense.

It happens in America.

Hopefully, by the time Emma comes back to work in Britain, things will have changed for the better rather than the worse.

Since my retirement from curling, I’ve made sure I’ve kept setting myself fresh challenges.

The Etape cycle event was one and the London Marathon another.

I’ve always loved gym work so getting involved in HYROX has been perfect.

You run one kilometre and do eight fitness workout stations as quickly as you can.

It’s become really popular and every time a new date gets announced the subscriptions get filled up within hours.

London on Saturday was my first Women’s Pro event.

I won it in just over an hour and six minutes.

It really does test you – a sled push and then a run when you can’t feel your legs is torture.

The World Championships are in Nice in June and I’ll see if I can work on my running before then because that’s the bit where I’m weakest.

It’s not the Paris Olympics but I’ll see how high I can finish.

SIGN OF THE TIMES: Rangers, led by Jo Potter, above left, and Celtic, managed by Elena Sadiku, right, have been increasing their stranglehold on women’s football in Scotland.