NEW Rangers Women’s Head Coach, Leanne Crichton, has outlined her vision for the side.
Crichton, who enjoyed a distinguished playing career and represented Scotland at two major international tournaments, steps into a head coaching role for the first time after earning invaluable experience as first-team assistant coach at Glasgow City.
The 37-year-old admits she is hugely excited by the project at the club and believes her vast experience as a player, coupled with her recent education on the touchline, can help deliver consistent success at Ibrox.
Speaking to RangersTV for the first time as Head Coach, she said of her ambitions: “I would firstly like to thank the fans for the warm welcome, bringing me into the club and accepting me.
“I just ask them to come on that journey with us. We’ll be an exciting team to watch, a successful team, and for me it’s a huge privilege and honour to be here.
“I know that with the fans, combined with the team and quality we have, that there will be exciting things to come.
“In terms of the head coach that I am, I love a possession-based team, but that will come with real high intensity.
“Ultimately, it’s about creating that high performance environment so that not only are we creating a successful team on the pitch but we’re also creating that culture and atmosphere off it that players and staff feel empowered to be at their work, striving to the best version of themselves daily.
“The detail is very important in every area, whether that’s matchday and training preparations, rest and recovery, nutrition, every element of it.
“It’s about fine tuning a lot of those details. It’s been a successful team and that was part of the excitement of coming, that the group is already successful and it’s such a talented group of players, both young and experienced, and it’s on me to work with those players to make them better.”
Crichton arrives boasting a wealth of knowledge in the Scottish game having taken her first steps into the coaching sphere in a player-coaching capacity with Motherwell in 2021.
As well as assisting Leanne Ross at Glasgow City, the former midfielder is also well-known for her insightful and measured punditry on both the Men’s and Women’s game in Scotland.
She added: “There are no guarantees that when you play in football and have a professional career that you’ll find a job that you love or enjoy.
“Being on that journey and that path, understanding the pros and cons over the years and taking little bits of information from managers or coaches that I’ve worked, it ultimately shapes yourself in terms of the head coach that you want to be. It’s been a work in progress but we’ve arrived where we are now.
“I know it can be cliché to say that people need to understand the club, the league and the players within it, but for me it will be a huge advantage in order to help us hit the ground running, to understand the players and coaches operating at the level, and the league structure and the demands in terms of the domestic calendar and international responsibilities of the players.
“It will help make the transition pretty seamless, and having that wealth of knowledge is so important.”