Alonso blames transfers and retention for quitting Celtic

Fran Alonso has been reflecting on his three years in charge of the Celtic Ladies team and the reasons for his recent departure to Houston Dash.

In any circumstances an offer to work in probably the best league in the sport would be hard to resist but having brought success, profile and personality to the Celtic side there was something that he could have built on.

After working his way into coaching in the UK from the very bottom Alonso had jobs at Southampton and Everton before moving north in 2020 to take charge of the Celtic side.

His enthusiasm was reflected in the team, crowds began to show interest in the Ladies Team to such an extent that two matches switched to Celtic Park last season attracted crowds of over 10,000.

The players, fans and manager worked well together but hard finance is required at all levels of the game with Celtic simply a platform for players to move on.

Last season’s top scorer Jacynta left for Sporting Lisbon, speaking to the Behind The Goals podcast on Radio Scotland Alonso explained why he too had to look to move on:

The problem for me was how ineffective we were about retaining the quality players we produced. I was there four years, and we lost our top goalscorer every year while Rangers or Glasgow City would not lose theirs.

Some transfers and departures are inevitable but facing a major rebuild season on season is a huge demand- especially knowing that further success will result in more players moving on.

Alonso led Celtic to last season’s Scottish Cup with the team just minutes away from winning the SWPL.

Celtic are in second place in this season’s SWPL, six points off top spot after 18 matches with 30-year-old Swede Elena Sadiku taking over from Alonso, moving from a job with the Everton u-21 side.