Canberra United may have a new coach as soon as next week, with Capital Football in talks with a potential candidate to fill the role following Vicki Linton's departure.
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The club has been scouting a replacement for Linton since she walked away last week from United, after two seasons as head coach, to be closer to family in Sydney.
Capital Football chief executive Chris Gardiner remained coy on who the club were talking to, but confirmed discussions with the preferred candidate were taking place this weekend.
He seemed quietly optimistic the discussions would go well.
"I've started a conversation with a particular person. If that is not successful, there's a number of coaches who have reached out to us already. And obviously that'd be more more of your traditional selection process," he said.
"The person I'm talking to this weekend ... we'll see how it goes."
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Several names have been floated by fans online to fill the role, with one big question looming: will United continue its legacy of female coaches?
United has had seven coaches since its inception in 2008 for the inaugural W-League season, now known as the A-League Women, with five being women.
One name scratched from the list will be former Matildas and Football Ferns coach Tom Sermanni. The ACT Sport Hall of Fame inductee was named as Western Sydney Wanderers' inaugural head of women's football on Friday.
Finding a coach similar to Sermanni's stature, to implement United's future aspirations outlined in the club's end of season review, will be paramount.
A review is running parallel to the club's coach search, as United aims to find a way to return to their 2010s form, when it bagged two championships and three premierships, increase the club's fanbase and build a bigger squad with more marquee names.
Linton led the side to its first finals campaign since 2016-17 in her first season, before Canberra finished seventh with two wins, seven draws and five losses across 14 fixtures this season.
It began after United's final 2021-22 season fixture earlier this month, and Gardiner said it should be finalised soon.
"The group that's involved in the review is myself, [technical director] Phil Booth, Grace Gill and Traci Bartlett," the Capital Football boss said.
"We've got member surveys and player surveys now being finalised, and that should be ready by the end of this week in terms of initial data, coaches report, technical director's report. So that will all come together for that group."
One marquee name the club will hope to retain next season as part of their plan will be Michelle Heyman. The 33-year-old ALW record goal scorer said she wanted to play on in 2022-23.
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
