Wales boss: 'there's no reason' why women should not coach elite men's football

Wales Women manager Gemma Grainger believes there is no reason why a woman coach should not manage a leading men's football team.

Hannah Dingley became the first woman to manage a professional men's side in English football when she was made caretaker boss at Forest Green Rovers in July.

The historic tenure of Carmathen-born Dingley lasted just under two weeks upon the club's permanent appointment of David Horseman, igniting some allegations that the temporary hiring of Dingley was a shrewd public relations effort from owner Dale Vince.

Nevertheless, Grainger believes the first permanent appointment of a woman manager in the men's elite game isn't far away.

"It comes down to skillset," the 41-year-old told the BBC.

"If I go into a team and am asked to deliver a role as a coach, if I am the best at delivering that, you can trust a male or female to deliver.

"But it's a taboo isn't it. Women in society are still a taboo in many different roles."

She added: "I have worked with boys in youth academies and because of the pressures at the highest level, there are some real soft skills that women can have. It's not that men don't have them - I am trying not to be too general, because that's not the case.

"But you can really get the best out of people in different ways.

"I know women who work with male players as physios, as physical performance coaches, as psychologists, and there's no reason that the next step where women are working with top players [as managers] to make them get better [should not happen] because it comes down to the individual."

Calls for Sarina Wiegman to take over a number of leading men's jobs have emerged following the Dutch manager's largely unrivalled success on the world stage.

The FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said there was no reason why Wiegman would not be considered for the head England men's role, while the Dutch FA voiced interest in attaining the 53-year-old's services as the new men's national team coach when the role becomes available.

Grainger faces a difficult challenge ahead as she attempts to guide Wales to safety in their inaugural Nations League campaign. The campaign arrives after the squad's agonising World Cup qualifying heartbreak in which they failed to reach a first-ever major tournament after a 2-1 extra-time qualifying play-off loss to Switzerland.

Nevertheless, Grainger is convinced her side are on course to end the nation's wait for a first appearance at a women's major tournament by reaching Euro 2025.

Wales sit bottom of their Nations League group in League A a fter successive defeats to Iceland and Denmark respectively. Testing away games await against Germany on Friday and Denmark on Tuesday, 31 October.

The calibre of opponent in League A has presented heady challenges for Wales but Grainger welcomes the level of competition as an ideal form of development.

"Do I think we have the potential to play at European Championships, at World Cups? Yes I do. I think the World Cup campaign showed that," she said.

"But I also think it's about not getting too ahead of ourselves too quickly, when we look at Switzerland and their history, Germany, Denmark.

"The history of these countries, the depth and the investment, are huge. We are at a very different stage and I stay focused on that.

"There are 16 places in the women's Euros, there are 24 in the men's. I have said this openly, if there were 24 places in the women's Euros, we would qualify every single time.

"But we have to get into the top 16, which by the way is a huge challenge. The only way we are going to do that is by playing teams who are going to take us to the line."