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Midweek, the Bay Collective group revealed the recruitment of Anja van Ginhoven, England's managerial lead working with Sarina Wiegman, to serve as their global women's football operations director. The new multi-club ownership body, featuring San Francisco’s Bay FC as its initial addition within its group, has previously engaged in recruiting from the national football governing body.

The appointment earlier this year of Cossington, the prominent previous technical director at the Football Association, as top executive acted as a signal of intent from this organization. She is deeply familiar with women’s football thoroughly and currently has put together a leadership team with profound insight of women’s football history and filled with professional background.

Van Ginhoven is the third key figure of the manager's inner circle to depart in the current year, following Cossington departing prior to the Euros and deputy manager, Arjan Veurink, moving on to assume the position of head manager of the Netherlands, but her move was made earlier.

Stepping away has been a shock to the system, yet “My choice was made to leave the FA well in advance”, she says. “I had a contract for four years, just as Veurink and Wiegman had. As they re-signed, I had expressed I didn’t know if I would do the same. I had accepted the whole idea that following the tournament my time with England would end.”

The Euros became an emotional event because of this. “I recall distinctly, speaking with Wiegman where I basically told her about my decision and after which we agreed: ‘Our ultimate aspiration, what a triumph it would represent if we were to win the European Championship?’ In reality, it's rare that aspirations are realized every day but, absolutely incredibly, it actually happened.”

Wearing a Netherlands-colored shirt, Van Ginhoven has divided loyalties following her stint with the English team, during which she contributed to claiming two Euros in a row and worked within the manager's team during the Dutch victory in the 2017 European Championship.

“England retains an emotional connection for me. Therefore, it’s going to be tough, notably since that the team are due to arrive for the upcoming fixtures in the near future,” she notes. “Whenever the two nations face off, where do my loyalties lie? Today I have on orange, though tomorrow English white.”

You can change direction and move quickly in a speedboat. In a small team like this, that’s easily done.

The club was not in the plans when the management specialist determined that a new chapter was needed, however the opportunity arose at the right time. Cossington began assembling the team and mutual beliefs were key.

“Virtually from the start we connected we felt immediate synergy,” remarks she. “You’re immediately on the same level. We have spoken at length regarding multiple aspects around how you grow the game and our shared vision for the right approach.”

The two leaders are among several to make a move from well-known positions within European football for a blank sheet of paper across the Atlantic. Atlético Madrid’s female football technical lead, Patricia González, has been introduced as the group's worldwide sports director.

“I was very attracted in the deep faith regarding the strength within the female sport,” she says. “I'm familiar with Cossington for an extended period; during my tenure at Fifa, she was the technical director of England, and decisions like this come naturally when you know you will have around you colleagues who drive you.”

The profound understanding among their staff sets them apart, explains she, as Bay Collective one of several recent multi-team projects that have started lately. “That’s one of our unique selling points. Various methods are valid, however we strongly feel in ensuring deep football understanding,” she adds. “Each of us have traveled a path in women’s football, throughout our careers.”

As outlined on their site, the ambition for the collective is to advocate and innovate a forward-thinking and durable system of women’s football clubs, founded on effective practices to meet the varied requirements of women in sport. Succeeding in this, with unified understanding, eliminating the need for persuasion for specific initiatives, is incredibly freeing.

“I equate it to moving from a large ship to a fast boat,” remarks Van Ginhoven. “You are essentially navigating in uncharted waters – as we say in the Netherlands, not sure how it comes across – and you must depend on your personal insight and skills to choose wisely. You can change direction and move quickly in a speedboat. In a lean group like this, it's straightforward to accomplish.”

She continues: “In this role, we begin with a clean canvas to build upon. Personally, our mission focuses on impacting football on a much broader level and that blank slate allows you to do whatever you want, within the rules of the game. That is the advantage of what we are building together.”

The ambition is high, the executives are saying the things players and fans are eager to hear and it will be fascinating to monitor the progress of this organization, the club and any clubs added to the portfolio.

For a flavour of what is to come, what are the key aspects of a high-performance environment? “{It all starts and ends with|Everything begins and concludes with|The foundation and culmination involve