Celtic FC Women manager Fran Alonso has officially left the club after four years to join Houston Dash in the United States.
Alonso oversaw a period of transformation for Celtic Women as the team turned professional and set their sights on consistently winning trophies.
The popular coach won two Scottish Cups and a League Cup during his time at the club, as well as finishing second in the league on two occasions.
He also guided Celtic to their first-ever forays into the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
The team were so narrowly pipped to a SWPL title last season and are battling it out with rivals Rangers this term, having also made progress into the semi-finals of the League Cup.
Celtic Chief Executive on Fran Alonso exit
In a statement today, Chief Executive Michael Nicholson noted the club’s disappointment at losing Alonso, saying: “I would like to sincerely thank Fran for the fantastic contribution he has made to the development of our women’s team.
“Under his leadership, our group of players has grown into an exciting and successful team – one which has delivered some great achievements and a team which continues to gather more and more support.
“Fran has played a pivotal role in establishing Celtic FC Women as one of the major forces in the Scottish game, a position we will be doing all we can to maintain and further improve on.
“We will also look to build on the progress that the team have made on a European level over the last couple of years.
“While we are hugely disappointed to lose Fran, everyone at the Club sincerely wishes him every success in his new challenge.
“The work on identifying his successor has already begun and we will make an announcement on the position as soon as possible.”
Celtic have a chance to push the women’s game forward in Scotland over the next five years so recruiting a talented, visionary coach is essential.
The Ghirls will ideally take one step beyond and deliver a league title in that period, which will open up a friendlier route in the Champions League.
Alonso has been a key figure in the development of this team but Celtic have the chance to build on that success now and become a more dominant force in the women’s game.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers comes to “very frank” conclusion with Celtic squad after recent Lennoxtown debrief.
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