Rather bizarrely, the role of Northern Ireland Women’s manager is being advertised on the football recruitment agency Football Careers, external, which suggests the IFA do not currently have someone lined up to take over.
The job specification says the ideal candidate would be based in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland and “will be tasked with inspiring and preparing elite players to compete on the international stage while shaping the future of women’s football”.
They must also “lead the senior women’s team in the next phase of its development and build on recent progress”.
What is not mentioned, is the fact that given the short lead in time to their first competitive game, the chosen candidate will be tasked with hitting the ground running.
That is easier said than done, especially in international football and with a squad that had an average age of 24.8 in their previous game against Iceland in October, whose domestic based players have not played since last year.
NI have qualifiers against Switzerland, Malta and Turkiye home and away in March, April and May.
Qualifying for the World Cup, which will be held in Brazil in 2027, follows the same format as the Nations League.
Only the four group winners in League A will automatically qualify for the finals, with the remaining teams having to go through the play-offs for the remaining eight places.
For NI to earn a play-off they must avoid finishing bottom of their group.
Switzerland reached the quarter-finals of last year’s Euros, Malta held NI to a 0-0 at Windsor in Euro 2025 qualifying, while Turkiye are unbeaten in their last five games.
Playing against the Swiss away first, arguably the strongest team in the group, will be a real baptism of fire for the next manager.
The new boss will be without top goalscorer and captain Simone Magill for this campaign as she is expecting her first child.
They will therefore be tasked with choosing a captain in the interim as well as quickly getting up to speed with the pool of players available and deciding who could replace Magill.
The next manager may also have to lean on the experience of Under-17 and Under-19 manager Gail Redmond for a rundown on the players and the state of the game in NI.
They will have just a week at most on the pitch to prepare players before the Switzerland game, so clear communication will be key and implementing grander tactical ideas may have to wait until further down the line.