Pedro Martinez Losa sacked as Scotland Women head coach

Scotsman football writer gives his immediate reaction to the sacking of Scotland Women head coach Pedro Martinez Losa.  #SWNT #ScotlandNT

Transcript

00:00So the Pedro Martinez Losa era of Scotland Women is over after the SFA confirmed that

00:07the Spanish head coach had been relieved of his duties after a second successive failure

00:12at qualifying for a major tournament. As someone who's covered Scotland Women since his appointment

00:17in 2021 it doesn't come as a huge surprise. I think he had said after the Finland game

00:22that he saw absolutely no reason for not continuing, that he would like to have honoured his contract

00:27but truth be told I think the minute that full time whistle went most people knew that

00:32the Pedro Martinez Losa era was probably going to be over for Scotland Women. It's been a

00:37strange sort of period under Scotland Women that had previously qualified in 2027 for

00:43the Euros and the 2019 World Cup which had sort of lifted spirits that women's football

00:47was growing within Scotland. It certainly has grown since then but it could have grown

00:51at an even faster rate if Scotland had qualified for the last two tournaments and with the

00:55qualities that they've got within the team. Caroline Weir of course plays for Real Madrid,

01:00one of the best players in the world. Erin Cuthbert plays for Scotland, a title winner

01:03numerous times in the WSL alongside loads of good young talent. Scotland definitely

01:07have the quality to get further in the competition, not just qualify for the competition sorry

01:13to get much further along in the competition but as it is under Pedro Martinez Losa it's

01:18been too often that the bright spells and the encouraging signs hasn't really translated

01:24into a long run of form. There was a 60 month winless run in competitive games which led

01:29to Pedro Martinez Losa saying that there may have been an agenda against him because he

01:34felt that the wins and the friendlies and the performances in the friendlies weren't

01:37being counted. The truth is he said when he came in his job was to get Scotland qualifying

01:42for a major tournament yet again and he was steadfast in his belief that he could do that

01:45but he leaves three years later having not achieved the aim of qualifying for a major

01:50tournament. Who comes next is a big question and I think that is a huge question for Scotland

01:56women, they've gone backwards on his watch but they've certainly got loads of quality

02:00players within the team, they've got good young players coming in, they've got experience.

02:04It's a job that people should want to take on ahead of the next qualifying tournament.

02:09When it comes to who gets that job though, there's a lot of people that will be in the

02:13frame. I'm sure it will emerge in the coming weeks and months who's been the preferred

02:17choice for the SFA but end of an era for Scotland here, an era that won't go down in the history

02:23books for Scotland and whilst it's never nice to see someone lose their job, it certainly

02:27feels like an approach that was needed from the SFA in Scotland and hopefully we look

02:31forward to a much better period of football with Scotland women in the years and months ahead.