Shelley Kerr keen to move on after strife in Scotland camp

Three short months ago, everyone wanted to talk about the World Cup. Now, it seems, no one does.
Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr reports that her squad is in good spirits ahead of their Euro qualifier against Cyprus tonight. Picture: SNS.Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr reports that her squad is in good spirits ahead of their Euro qualifier against Cyprus tonight. Picture: SNS.
Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr reports that her squad is in good spirits ahead of their Euro qualifier against Cyprus tonight. Picture: SNS.

There’s moving on and moving on. Shelley Kerr expected to complete her media duties on the afternoon before today’s Euro 2021 qualifier with Cyprus without mentioning the ongoing ramifications from a fractious team meeting shortly after the team’s World Cup elimination in Paris, the details of which emerged only a fortnight ago.

“Any meeting which happens between myself and the players is always in-house,” she said yesterday, which is of course the way it normally is in team sports environments. But sometimes details leak out and sometimes the revelations can compound an already fraught situation.

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Things were deemed serious enough for SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell to have attended a further clear-the-air session on Monday as the players assembled for the first time since their French adventure came to such a traumatic end in June.

Tonight’s match is the first since the Scots conceded three times in the last 15 minutes against Argentina to crash out of the World Cup finals having been on the brink of qualifying for the knockout stage. A team meeting the following day, which Kerr later admitted took place after she and members of her coaching staff had had “a few drinks”, reportedly reduced some players to tears.

Skipper Rachel Corsie, pictured, reported that an apology from Kerr on Monday had been accepted – though she admitted the healing process can take a long time, “longer for some than others”.

Kerr hopes kick-off tonight will be long enough. She needs everyone on board and claims all are. “The training sessions have been brilliant this week,” she said. “We are really well prepared for the game and they are in good spirits, like I’d expect. And we are really looking forward to kicking the campaign off. It is exciting playing here at Easter Road. That has firmly been the focus this whole week.”

But the World Cup lingers, for good and bad reasons. No one should allow the way it ended to cloud just what strides Scotland made to get to that rarefied level. When there they performed admirably against England and Japan before establishing a 3-0 lead against Argentina.

“We need to look at how we manage games better – it is always about the end result,” said Kerr. “We will reflect on that and to try to improve on that, but we are not forgetting we were 15 minutes away from achieving something very special.

“I am 50 this year and I have seen it happen many times. You see games where teams are 2-0 up and cruising and then that first goal changes it. If we could put our finger on it we would be millionaires. It comes down to individuals and a collective. Decision-making is key.”

Kerr has a few more to make – including cutting three players from the matchday squad – as she selects a side to start another qualifying attempt. It’s slightly different to the previous two campaigns since the nation now expects. Top seeds in a group also including Finland and Portugal, Scotland open with what looks like a gimme against Cyprus, who are playing their first official qualifier.

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“(We’ve) qualified for Euros, World Cup – so what’s next?” said Kerr, who understands why the anticipation – and scrutiny, for better or worse – has intensified. “In sport you are under a degree of pressure because everyone is expecting you to do that again but it’s something the players and staff should thrive on.”

Former Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh once said there are no easy games in qualification but surely Cyprus are as near to one as it gets, given their inexperience. “I agree with Andy Roxburgh and that’s not playing it down,” said Kerr. “I’ve experienced it as a player – I’ve represented my country for a long time as a player and a manager. In international football you’ll always get one, two, three talented players that if you don’t do the right things they can score against you and hurt you.”

She admitted it’s been hard to gain information on Cyprus but knows Scotland can expect plenty of possession. The fans in the predicted crowd of up to 6,000 – the biggest for a Scotland women’s international played outside Glasgow – will feel entitled to plenty of Scotland goals, even without the injured Erin Cuthbert, the team’s top performer in France.

On the effect her increase in profile has had on her since the World Cup, Kerr said: “It’s been absolutely amazing – sometimes overwhelming. I’ve been out walking my dog and you’ve got a generation gap from a young boy, six or seven years old, to a mature gentleman saying thanks for allowing us to watch Scotland at a World Cup. It’s been phenomenal. That’s kudos again to the players and 
their clubs.

“Us going to the World Cup lifted the whole nation because we hadn’t been there for such a long time,” she added. “The huge thing for me is the legacy for the women’s game – inspiring the next generation is one of our guiding principles. Now people are talking about women’s football and that’s fantastic.”