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On Wednesday, Bay Collective announced the hiring of Van Ginhoven, the English national team's managerial lead working with Sarina Wiegman, as their overseer of worldwide women's football activities. The freshly established collective club ownership initiative, with Bay FC of San Francisco as its initial addition within its group, has a history in recruiting from the national football governing body.

The hiring this year of Kay Cossington, the prominent former FA technical director, to the CEO role served as a signal of intent by Bay Collective. She understands the women's game thoroughly and now has put together an executive team that possesses extensive knowledge of the history of women's football and filled with practical experience.

She is the third core member of the manager's inner circle to exit this year, following Cossington exiting prior to the European Championships and the assistant manager, Veurink, moving on to assume the position of head coach of Holland, however her move arrived more quickly.

Stepping away was a jarring experience, yet “I had decided to depart the Football Association some time back”, she says. “My agreement for four years, exactly like Arjan and Sarina did. When they renewed, I had already said I didn’t know about renewing myself. I had accepted the whole idea that after the European Championship I would no longer be involved with the national team.”

The Euros turned into a deeply felt event due to that. “I recall distinctly, discussing with the head coach in which I informed her of my choice and then we said: ‘We share a single dream, how incredible it would be if we were to win the European Championship?’ In reality, it's rare that dreams come true frequently however, against the odds, ours came true.”

Dressed in orange, Van Ginhoven has divided loyalties post her tenure in England, during which she contributed to securing consecutive European championships and served on the manager's team during the Dutch victory the 2017 Euros.

“The English side will forever have an emotional connection for me. Therefore, it will be difficult, particularly now knowing that the squad will be arriving for national team duty shortly,” she comments. “In matches between England and the Netherlands, which side do I back? Today I have on orange, though tomorrow English white.”

A speedboat allows for rapid direction changes. With a compact team such as ours, that’s easily done.

The club was not initially considered when the organisational wizard determined that a new chapter was needed, but everything aligned perfectly. Cossington started to bring people in and mutual beliefs were crucial.

“Essentially upon meeting we got together we experienced an instant connection,” states Van Ginhoven. “We were instantly aligned. Our conversations have been thorough about different things related to developing women's football and the methods we believe are correct.”

These executives are not the only figures to make a move from high-profile jobs in Europe's football scene for a fresh start across the Atlantic. Atlético Madrid’s technical director for women's football, Patricia González, has been announced as the group's global sporting director.

“I felt strongly drawn by the firm conviction regarding the strength within the female sport,” González says. “I'm familiar with Cossington for many years; during my tenure 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 depth of knowledge within their group makes them unique, says Van Ginhoven, as Bay Collective among a number fresh club ownership ventures to launch lately. “It's a standout feature of our approach. It’s OK that people do things in different ways, but we are firm in our belief in having that football knowledge on board,” she adds. “The entire leadership have been on a journey within the women's game, for most of our lives.”

According to their online statement, the goal for the collective is to support and lead an advanced and lasting environment of women’s football clubs, built on proven methods to meet the varied requirements of women. Doing that, with everyone on the same page, with no need to make the case for specific initiatives, provides great freedom.

“I liken it to transitioning from a tanker to a speedboat,” remarks Van Ginhoven. “You are essentially navigating through waters that there are no roadmaps for – that’s a Dutch saying, I don’t know if it translates – and it's necessary to trust your individual understanding and experience to choose wisely. You can change direction and move quickly with a speedboat. In a small team like this, it's straightforward to accomplish.”

González continues: “With this opportunity, we start with a blank slate to build upon. Personally, our mission focuses on impacting football more extensively and that clean start enables you to pursue any direction you choose, adhering to football's guidelines. That’s the beauty of what we are building together.”

The aspirations are significant, the executives are voicing opinions players and fans want to hear and it will be fascinating to monitor the progress of the collective, the club and future additions to the group.

For a flavour of what is to come, 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