Anna Signeul has been the national coach for woman's football in Scotland since March 2005. She spent over 20 years being involved in the development of the game in her native Sweden and was still up for the fight to do the same in Scotland when approached to take on the job. The struggle to get the ship turned around and headed in the right direction has been informed by the Swedish experience and Scotland are benefiting now. Signeul had set out a plan when she arrived and she is pleased to see so many parts of the plan in place. There are still many things to get right but the concept of working with the clubs so that everybody benefits has attracted a number of admirers.
Ahead of next Thursday's EURO2013 qualifying group game at Tynecastle, the new home of the women's national side, national coach Anna Signeul took time out to speak a few journalists to look ahead to the game and also beyond that as she continues on her quest to improve the performances and standing of the women's game in Scotland. Signeul is not just interested in the national side but her wide ranging remit includes the development of the game in Scotland. To this end she can be seen at many a woman's game on Sunday's watching players but also talking to and encouraging their coaches and support staff to work at developing their players to the individual players and clubs' benefit. Signeul was at Petershill Park on Sunday to see City to see the Scottish Woman's Premier League trophy being lifted by Glasgow City for the fifth successive year, their sixth win in their seven years of existence. The prize is a tangible reward for the efforts on the players part but also the investment of time and effort on behalf of the many volunteers that make the club tick. Signeul meets regularly with the club coaches to encourage them to see the bigger picture and how their efforts can link in with hers at a national level.
Signeul said: "For the squad this time you will see we have selected 22 players as it is obviously a lot cheaper to have a larger squad when you are playing at home (There were 18 players in the squad which travelled to Israel for the first qualifying game). This will be the last game of the year that we play and we also wanted to include all the players who were involved in the squad for the qualifiers. Christie Murray (Glasgow City) will be a non-playing member of the squad but will be at the game as she will not be fit until the end of November. There is a question mark over Julie Fleeting (Arsenal) being able to play. She is still affected by the ankle injury picked up against Belgium and is now suffering from a calf problem. We are really pleased with the way we played in Israel, it was not 100% performance all the way through but definitely in terms of goals it was (Scotland won 6-1) we weren't happy conceding a goal but on the other hand it was better to make that kind of mistake when we had scored six. Maybe we can learn from that and be a little bit more cautious for the Wales game. I think that will a tough game."
Looking ahead to next Thursday's game, Signeul knows it will not be a case of just turning up at Tynecastle to pick up the points. She has seen the womens game develop accross Europe. She went on: "I think Wales have developed during the year since we last played them in February, due to the fact that so may of their players now play in the Super league and that is of course a huge opportunity for their players to get competitive games each week. Of course, we go into this game with great confidence for the result in Israel and all the game we have played this year. We definitely set the target to win the game , we know if will be a very difficult game but that is the goal: to win the game. it won't be easy but I think the players are in very good shape at the moment. Jo Love (Glasgow City) has come back from her injuries and she looked very sharp, I think that Suzanne Grant (Celtic) is also playing very well at the moment as she is fully back from her injury. It is very pleasing to see Jennifer (Beattie, Arsenal) playing full games and totally recovered from her ankle injury and she has scored in every game she has played."