The head coach of Arsenal Women resigned from his position very early in the season. The club now has to start looking for a new head coach. In the meantime, Renée Slegers takes over. The interim head coach was shocked by the news. She said the following when asked about taking over the head coach role: “I feel when I got the question yesterday like if this is how we need to go forward, I’m happy to do it because I care about the team, I care about the players. I’ve been here for a year now. It’s a massive club so I’m happy to help.”
She is not too concerned about the full-time position. Arsenal is expected to announce a new head coach rather sooner than later. We are only two weeks away from the international break, which could be a good opportunity for the club to get their ducks in a row. Arsenal is not in a hurry to appoint someone new as Slegers her results were good in her first two weeks. Let’s look at the possible candidates to take over from Slegers.
New Possible Candidate: Nick Cushing
Charlotte Harpur reported that Nick Cushing is the primary target for Arsenal Women. Cushing is 39 years old and managed Manchester City Women from 2013 until 2020. That year he moved to New York City FC as Ronny Deila’s assistant coach. Two year later Cushing became head coach.
During Cushing’s time in the Women’s Super League with Manchester City, he won the League in 2016, the FA Cup in 2017 and the League Cup in 2014 and 2016. Cushing said the following when asked about this experience, in 2021, with City:
“It had been mine, my wife and my kids’ lives for six years. I love what I do here in New York — I love the team here and the project we’ve got with (former head coach) Ronny (Deila) and NYCFC — but I miss it every day because it was just the best job in the world in the sense of the people I worked with, the opportunities we had, the trophies we won.”
Casey Stoney
The possible candidate that is named the most is Casey Stoney. She is a legend in the women’s football world. The former England international won ten major honours, was captain, leader and WSL legend. With a total of 130 England caps and two decades in club football, it was clear that Casey Stoney was meant to continue in the world of football as manager.
After her retirement Stoney started her managerial career. She joined Phil Neville’s backroom team with the England Lionesses in 2018. That same year she took the role as head coach of Manchester United. In her first season she won the Women’s Championship with the club and promoted to the WSL. The next years were quite successful, earning Stoney a contract until 2022. After securing the fourth place in the 2020/2021 season Stoney decided it was time for a new adventure: San Diego Wave.
San Diego Wave reached the group stage of the NWSL Challenge Cup and third place in the league. Stoney was coach of the year and advanced with her team to the NWSL Playoffs. In 2023 the club had another successful season when they won the NWSL Shield. Casey Stoney was fired in 2024 when San Diego Wave was winless for seven games in a row. An unfortunate end to a successful time with the club.
Is she the right candidate to be Arsenal’s new head coach? Her connection with Arsenal from her time as a player, her experience with different clubs and the national teams suggests she could be. Multiple sources confirmed Casey Stoney will likely not be the next Arsenal Women’s coach.
Mark Parsons
The next name that popped up was Mark Parsons’. We only know the manager from his brief stint with the Dutch national team. It was not very successful as Parson’s did not really fit with the team. As head coach of the Portland Thorns in 2021 Parson proved he is an incredible coach. The Dutch FA approaching him to take over from Sarina Wiegman was a very logical step. Parsons went to the EURO 2022 with the Oranje Leeuwinnen but got kicked out in the quarterfinals. Later that year the head coach and the Dutch FA decided it was best to part ways. In 2023 Parsons rejoined Washington Spirit lending his technical expertise to the club. It was again not the most successful season, and Parsons did not return in 2024.
Tony Gustavsson
If you talk about experience, then you talk about Tony Gustavsson. The Swedish coach has over 22 years in experience in women’s and men’s football. Gustavsson was the primary assistant to Jill Ellis when they won the World Cup in 2015 in Canada and again in 2019 in France.
In 2020 it was time for him to become head coach of the Matilda’s. His first big job: The Olympics 2020. The Matilda’s finished fourth, which was the joint best ever finish at the Olympics by an Austrlian football team, male or female. In 2023 Gustavsson and his team went to the Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The Matilda’s finished fourth again.
Gustavsson got one more chance during the 2024 Summer Olympics. The performance was not up to par and so the head coach resigned. Gustavsson is mentioned as one of the possible candidates to replace Jonas Eidevall.
Renée Slegers
Slegers is the interim coach for the moment and says she is not too concerned about who takes the full-time position. But would it really be that crazy for it to be her? The Dutch manager played 55 caps for the Dutch international team before moving to the dugout.
Slegers coached F Limhamn Bunkeflo’s under-19 team in the 2018 season and was promoted to the head coach role in November 2018. Three years later, in March 2021, Slegers took the jon as head coach for Sweden U23. After her time with the Swedish national team it was time to go back to club football. Her first job getting back was as the manager of FC Rosengård B. Later in June 2021 she succeeded Jonas Eideval as head coach of the club’s first team in June 2021.Slegers led the team to successive Damallsvenskan titles in 2021 and 2022.
In 2023 she left FC Rosengård to join Eidevall at Arsenal. Plenty of experience to take the team over full-time?
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