Men missed a trick letting Shelley take women’s job
From Back Page tag. Kerr, 47, became the first women to be appointed boss of a senior men’s side in the history of British football almost three years ago when she took over at Stirling University.
She took the struggling Lowland League outfit to third in the league last season but opportunities to progress her career in the men’s game have not been forthcoming.
She will now take over as national women’s coach at the end of the summer. And Mackay said: “Halfway through my interview with Shelley I was thinking, ‘ I wonder, if there was a chairman sitting here, how impressed he would be?’ She was exceptional in terms of her knowledge and passion for the game.
“She wanted to be a footballer from aged eight, succeeded in winning over 50 caps for her country and she has gone on to manage at the top level.
“I saw the way she handled herself, heard her plans and listened to the way she spoke. If you add her CV on to that then if I was a chairman I could see something there.
“You’re talking about a glass ceiling. Well, that glass ceiling has to crack at some point. It’s about someone being brave enough to make that changeover. It isn’t Shelly’s fault. She has had the chance to become the national manager of Scotland. At the moment that pathway is not quite there for her.
“If that opportunity is not there at the moment and this job comes up, the Scottish national job, then of course she’s going to take it. I’s the pinnacle of the women’s game.
“But I’m seeing a number of people on first conversations who are open to change because things have got to a point where we’re all fed up with it.
“It’s about people being open enough to change. Barriers are coming down all the time and eventually that glass ceiling will shatter.”
The SFA received more than 50 applicants for Signeul’s job, Mackay whittled the list down to 10 and interviewed three, with Kerr the standout. He added: “We did the interview and I went and watched her coach, from a distance. She didn’t know I did that – and I knew she was someone who absolutely knew the game inside out.
“How do we get our kids at 11 to become full international footballers like Shelley? It’s training, diet and education. We’re fighting against genetics and our national diet that sees too many people die in their 50s.
“We see other international team players at 18 and 19 with shoulders out here and waists in there and ask why we’re not like that. We like pie suppers. We’ve got to educate them.”