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Midweek, the Bay Collective group announced the recruitment of Van Ginhoven, the English national team's managerial lead under head coach Sarina Wiegman, as their global women's football operations director. This new multi-club ownership body, featuring the San Francisco-based Bay FC as its first club among its holdings, has a history in hiring individuals from the Football Association.

The hiring earlier this year of Cossington, the prominent previous technical director at the Football Association, to the CEO role served as a demonstration of ambition by the collective. Cossington knows the women's game inside out and now has gathered a management group that possesses extensive knowledge of the history of women's football and laden with professional background.

She becomes the third key figure of the manager's inner circle to depart this year, with Cossington leaving before the Euros and assistant coach, Arjan Veurink, leaving to become head coach of the Dutch national team, but her decision was made earlier.

Moving on has been a surprising shift, yet “I’d taken my decision to leave the FA some time back”, she says. “I had a contract lasting four years, similar to the assistant and head coach did. When they renewed, I previously indicated I was uncertain whether I would. I had grown accustomed to the thought that following the tournament my time with England would end.”

The tournament was a deeply felt competition as a result. “It's sharp in my memory, having a conversation with Sarina in which I informed her of my choice and after which we agreed: ‘We share a single dream, what a triumph it would represent that we win the Euros?’ Generally, it’s not like hopes materialize frequently yet, absolutely incredibly, this one did.”

Sitting in an orange T-shirt, Van Ginhoven has divided loyalties after her time working in England, during which she contributed to securing consecutive European championships and worked within the coaching setup during the Dutch victory in the 2017 European Championship.

“The English side retains a special place in my heart. So, it will be difficult, notably since that the team are due to arrive for national team duty shortly,” she says. “When England plays the Netherlands, where do my loyalties lie? Today I have on orange, though tomorrow English white.”

You can change direction and move quickly in a speedboat. In a lean group like this one, that’s easily done.

Bay FC was not in the plans when the organisational wizard determined that a new chapter was needed, however the pieces fell into place at the right time. The chief executive began assembling the team and mutual beliefs were key.

“Virtually from the start we got together we felt immediate synergy,” remarks she. “There was immediate understanding. Our conversations have been thorough on various topics related to developing women's football and our shared vision for the right approach.”

Cossington and Van Ginhoven are not the only figures to uproot themselves from prominent roles within European football for a blank sheet of paper in the United States. Atlético Madrid’s women’s technical director, González, has been introduced as the group's worldwide sports director.

“I was very attracted in the deep faith in the potential of women's football,” she explains. “I have known Kay Cossington for many years; during my tenure at Fifa, she was the technical director of England, and it’s easy to make these decisions knowing you are going to be surrounded by people who really inspire you.”

The profound understanding in their team distinguishes them, notes she, as Bay Collective among a number recent multi-team projects that have started in recent years. “It's a standout feature of our approach. Different approaches are acceptable, however we strongly feel in having that football knowledge on board,” she states. “The entire leadership have traveled a path within the women's game, probably for the best part of our lives.”

According to their online statement, the mission of Bay Collective is to champion and pioneer an advanced and lasting environment for women's football clubs, founded on effective practices addressing the different demands of female athletes. Succeeding in this, with unified understanding, with no need to make the case for why you would take certain actions, is incredibly freeing.

“I compare it with moving from a large ship to a fast boat,” states she. “You’re basically driving in uncharted waters – as we say in the Netherlands, not sure how it comes across – and you just need to rely on your personal insight and skills to choose wisely. You can pivot and accelerate rapidly using a speedboat. In a small team like this, that is simple to achieve.”

González continues: “Here, we have a completely white sheet of paper to build upon. In my view, our mission is about influencing the game more extensively and that white paper allows you to do whatever you want, following the sport's regulations. This is the appeal of our collective project.”

Their goals are lofty, the management are saying the things the football community are eager to hear and it will be compelling to follow the development of Bay Collective, Bay FC and future additions to the group.

As a preview of upcoming developments, what are the key aspects of a high-performance environment? “{It all starts and ends with|Everything begins and concludes with|The foundation and culmination involve