Sarina Wiegman, manager of the England women’s team, is being tipped to take over in the men’s league. AFP Photo

Paul Kennedy

Just over 33 years ago, a television drama aired in the UK called The Manageress starring the actress Cherie Lunghi as, no surprise, the manageress.

She played Gabriella Benson, a glamorous and successful half-Italian businesswoman, who is appointed manager of a struggling second division football club.

The show ran for two seasons in 1989 and 1990, and was well written, had a great cast, and was extremely popular at the time.

This was, of course, an era long before #METOO, and a time when ‘woke’ was just something everyone did after their alarm clocks went off.

The series followed the trials and tribulations of a woman trying to impress and succeed in what was very much a man’s world.

The idea of a woman managing a professional team was, in 1989, comical. This TV show was nothing more than fiction, albeit maybe a little ahead of its time.

Fast forward 33 years and still, the idea of a woman in charge of first-team affairs at a top-flight football club is one that many supporters would struggle to comprehend.

Back in 1990, I never entertained that we would ever consider appointing a woman to manage a football team, but I strongly believe that day will come, sooner than we think.

And if I was a gambling man, I’d say it will be Sarina Wiegman who will become a full-time manager of a top football club.

Sarina is currently the boss of the England women’s team. She successfully led the lionesses to European glory, and came within a whisker of winning the World Cup.

The Dutch national is, by all accounts, an incredibly calming influence in the dressing room, master tactician and extremely knowledgeable about all things football.

Before taking the job of England manager, she was in charge of the Netherlands, where she also won UEFA Women’s Championship and reached a World Cup final.

Now it has been suggested that she could replace Gareth Southgate as manager of the England men’s team.

I, for one, think that job may be a step too far at the moment, but I certainly wouldn’t rule out her getting a job at club level in the men’s game.

It will take one hell of a brave owner to appoint her. And if it does happen, the pressure she will come under will be as intense as it gets.

But, unlike 1989, times are very much changing. And if Sarina is given a chance to manage a man’s team, and she accepts the challenge, I think we may all be in for one massive surprise. VNS