THE Scotland women’s team made history last week by reaching their first World Cup finals but the journey has been far longer than the year-long qualification process suggests.

It will be Shelley Kerr who will lead the Scottish women to France 2019 next summer but the foundations for this success were laid by Anna Signeul, the Swede who managed Scotland from 2005 until leaving the post a year ago.

Signeul took the Scots from a squad full of amateur players who could only dream of making it to the top level of the sport to a major championship side, with her final swansong being Scotland’s first appearance in a major championship, Euro 2017.

Signeul is now manager of the Finnish national team but having worked with Scotland for so long, she is still hugely invested in the success of the team and could not have been more delighted to see them defeat Albania 2-1 last Tuesday to ensure they will be on the plane to France next summer.

“I was so delighted. I was over the moon and it’s such a great achievement from Shelley and the players, and for everyone who has contributed to this throughout the long journey to this point,” she said. “I absolutely still feel part of it. I lived in Scotland for 12 years and Scotland is a part of me so I’m so happy they’ve qualified.”

Signeul was integral in developing players such as Kim Little and Jenny Beattie, both of whom missed out on Euro 2017 due to injury after being regulars in the national side in the lead-up to the tournament. And it is these players who have yet to experience the joy of a major championships whom she is particularly pleased for.

“Kim Little has been in the squad since she was 16 but missed the Euros last year and she was the first one I thought of when the team qualified,” Signeul said. “And there’s others like Jenny Beattie, Emma Mitchell, Hayley Lauder, Lizzie Arnot and also Jane Ross, who got injured in the first game. So they now get the opportunity to experience the World Cup, and so close after the last major championship is fantastic.”

Signeul may not wear a Scotland tracksuit anymore but she must still be given significant credit for Scotland’s World Cup qualification as the foundations she laid during her time in charge are bearing fruit.

“When I first came to Scotland, I was so naive and I thought we’d qualify for the Euros within four years,” she said. “But in the end, it took 12. I totally believed in what we were doing though. We didn’t want a short-term fix, we wanted a system that had sustainability. It was important that we had something that could last and could be built upon in the future.

“That’s maybe why it took longer, but we were working on all levels, not only with the national team but also on the player pathway and trying to develop women’s football at all levels.

"And players from the previous generation like Julie Fleeting, Gemma Faye, Pauline Hamill deserve credit because they built a base for this group of players to use as a platform."

The biggest change in the women’s national team since Signeul’s reign is the number of players who now play their trade down south or overseas. Only a handful play in their home country and while it is unquestionably a hugely positive thing for the individuals to secure professional contracts outwith these shores, Signeul is wary of what it means for the domestic game.

“I’m pleased to see so many of the players get a chance become professional,” she said. “They’re all stepping up and doing better and better and that will benefit the national team. These players have always set high standards and always strived to develop and they’ve never thought they’ve made it.

“In a way, that is damaging to the game in Scotland but on the other hand, it’s very important for their own personal development. I think it’s important for the domestic league to be strong though in order to help develop the next generation of players.

“If the domestic league is not good, it’s only a national team sport and so it becomes difficult to develop players and interest in the game. My philosophy was that it’s always important to work with the clubs and we have to make things as strong as we can domestically.

“If there’s not a strong set-up domestically, you only produce players at the very top who go abroad to play and then there’s a huge gap to the next level.”

Signeul will not be at next year’s World Cup, with Finland having finished third in their qualifying group. Her new job is, she admits, challenging, but that is something the Swede is well suited to.

“Finland are in a different place from Scotland,” she said. “They have been to major championships before. They were in Euro 2005 and they’ve had some really good players. They’ve had little dip recently though. It’s a huge challenge here, especially keeping the players playing. Now they have developed young players though and the youth teams are qualifying for major championships.

“We need to work out how to develop players the best. Nowadays, every country puts in a lot of hours so just doing that isn’t enough, you need to be clever about what you’re doing and concentrate on intensity and quality.”

There are few who would dispute that women’s football is on the rise, with the quality of the sport increasing with every passing year. Yet it still lags significantly behind the men’s game in terms of support and sponsorship. However, Signeul is confident that the sport both in Scotland and globally will continue on this upward trajectory.

“I’m very optimistic about the future of women’s football in Scotland,” she said.

“That’s what’s so good about them qualifying for tournaments back-to-back. When Scotland qualified for the Euros, I said that this was only the first time so I’m so pleased that Shelley and the players have made it so quickly again. It was important to continue the momentum and this will be huge, I believe. World Cup qualification will create such an interest in women’s football in Scotland.

“The challenge though is to get supporters who go every week to the games, not just every second year to the major tournaments.

“And getting television coverage - if you can become a good TV sport, that is massive because you can generate money to invest in the game. That’s the key for the development for women’s football going forward.”