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Midweek, the Bay Collective group revealed the hiring of Anja van Ginhoven, England's managerial lead working with Sarina Wiegman, taking on the role of overseer of worldwide women's football activities. The freshly established multi-club ownership body, with San Francisco’s Bay FC as the inaugural team within its group, has previously engaged in recruiting from the Football Association.

The hiring this year of Cossington, the influential ex-technical director for the FA, as top executive served as a demonstration of ambition from Bay Collective. Cossington knows female football comprehensively and currently has gathered a leadership team with a deep understanding of the evolution of the women's game and laden with professional background.

Van Ginhoven marks the third core member of Wiegman's coaching team to depart this year, with Cossington departing before the Euros and the assistant manager, Arjan Veurink, leaving to become manager of the Netherlands, but Van Ginhoven's choice came sooner.

Leaving proved to be a shock to the system, but “I’d taken my decision to leave the FA well in advance”, she states. “I had a contract lasting four years, exactly like Arjan and Sarina did. When they renewed, I previously indicated I wasn't sure about renewing myself. I had grown accustomed to the thought that post-Euros my time with England would end.”

The Euros became an emotional event because of this. “It's sharp in my memory, having a conversation with Sarina where I basically told her of my choice and then we said: ‘There’s just one dream, what a triumph it would represent to clinch the European title?’ Generally, it’s not like hopes materialize often yet, remarkably, this one did.”

Dressed in orange, she has divided loyalties post her tenure working in England, where she helped achieve claiming two Euros in a row and worked within Wiegman’s staff when the Netherlands won the 2017 Euros.

“The national team will always hold an emotional connection for me. Therefore, it will be challenging, notably since that the squad are scheduled to come for the international camp in the near future,” she says. “When England plays the Netherlands, who do I support? Today I have on orange, though tomorrow English white.”

A speedboat allows for rapid direction changes. In a lean group like this one, it's effortless to accomplish.

The club was not in the plans as the organisational wizard was deciding that it was time for a change, but the pieces fell into place at the right time. Cossington started to bring people in and common principles were crucial.

“Essentially upon meeting we met we experienced an instant connection,” states Van Ginhoven. “There was immediate understanding. We have spoken at length about different things around how you grow the game and the methods we believe are correct.”

These executives are not the only figures to relocate from high-profile jobs in Europe's football scene for a blank sheet of paper in the US. Atlético Madrid’s technical director for women's football, González, has been unveiled as Bay Collective’s global sporting director.

“I felt strongly drawn by the firm conviction in the potential of the women’s game,” González explains. “I have known Kay Cossington for an extended period; when I used to work at Fifa, she held the technical director role for England, and such choices are straightforward when you know you are going to be surrounded by colleagues who drive you.”

The profound understanding within their group sets them apart, says Van Ginhoven, with Bay Collective one of several fresh club ownership ventures which have emerged over the past few years. “That’s one of our unique selling points. It’s OK that people do things in different ways, but we definitely believe in ensuring deep football understanding,” she says. “All three of us have been on a journey in female football, probably for the best part of our lives.”

As their website states, the ambition of this group is to champion and pioneer an advanced and lasting environment of women’s football clubs, based on what works to meet the varied requirements of women in sport. Doing that, with unified understanding, eliminating the need for persuasion for specific initiatives, is hugely liberating.

“I compare it with going from a tanker to a speedboat,” says she. “You’re basically driving in uncharted waters – that’s a Dutch saying, I'm unsure if it translates well – and it's necessary to trust your own knowledge and expertise to choose wisely. You can change direction and move quickly in a speedboat. In a small team like this, it's straightforward to accomplish.”

González adds: “Here, we start with a blank slate to start with. In my view, what we do involves shaping the sport on a wider scale and that white paper allows you to do whatever you want, following the sport's regulations. That’s the beauty of our collective project.”

Their goals are lofty, the executives are saying the things athletes and supporters are eager to hear and it will be interesting to observe the evolution of the collective, Bay FC and any clubs added to the portfolio.

For a flavour of what is to come, which elements are crucial of a high-performance environment? “{It all starts and ends with|Everything begins and concludes with|The foundation and culmination involve