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On Wednesday, this new ownership entity announced the appointment of Van Ginhoven, England's managerial lead working with Sarina Wiegman, as their director of global women’s football operations. The freshly established multi-team ownership group, featuring San Francisco’s Bay FC as the first club in its portfolio, has prior experience in recruiting from the national football governing body.

The hiring this year of Cossington, the influential former FA technical director, as top executive was a clear statement by the collective. She understands women’s football comprehensively and currently she has assembled an executive team with profound insight of the history of women's football and filled with professional background.

Van Ginhoven becomes the third central staffer of Wiegman’s setup to exit in the current year, with Cossington leaving prior to the European Championships and the assistant manager, Arjan Veurink, leaving to assume the position of manager of the Dutch national team, but her decision came sooner.

Leaving was a shock to the system, but “I’d taken my decision to depart the Football Association some time back”, she says. “The terms covering four years, similar to the assistant and head coach did. When they renewed, I had expressed I was uncertain 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 European Championship became a sentimental competition because of this. “I recall distinctly, having a conversation with Wiegman where I basically told her about my decision and after which we agreed: ‘There’s just one dream, how incredible it would be if we were to win the European Championship?’ In life, dreams don't aspirations are realized frequently yet, remarkably, it actually happened.”

Sitting in an orange T-shirt, she experiences split allegiances post her tenure working in England, where she helped achieve winning back-to-back European titles and served on the manager's team when the Netherlands won the 2017 Euros.

“England will always hold a dear spot in my heart. Therefore, it will be challenging, notably since that the players are scheduled to come for the international camp soon,” she comments. “In matches between England and the Netherlands, where do my loyalties lie? Today I have on orange, but tomorrow it’s white.”

A speedboat allows for rapid direction changes. With a compact team such as ours, that is simple to achieve.

Bay FC was not initially considered when the strategic expert determined that a new chapter was needed, but the opportunity arose at the right time. Cossington began assembling the team and common principles were key.

“Virtually from the start we connected we experienced an instant connection,” remarks Van Ginhoven. “We were instantly aligned. We've discussed extensively on various topics concerning growing the sport and what we think is the right way.”

These executives are not the only figures to relocate from prominent roles within European football for a blank sheet of paper in the United States. The Spanish club's technical director for women's football, Patricia González, has been introduced as the organization's worldwide sports director.

“I was very attracted to that strong belief regarding the strength of the women’s game,” she explains. “I've been acquainted with Kay Cossington for an extended period; during my tenure at Fifa, she served as England's technical director, and it’s easy to make these decisions knowing you will have around you individuals who motivate you.”

The profound understanding within their group makes them unique, says Van Ginhoven, for the collective part of a group new multi-club initiatives to launch lately. “That’s one of our unique selling points. It’s OK that people do things in different ways, however we strongly feel in ensuring deep football understanding,” she says. “The entire leadership have progressed within the women's game, probably for the best part of our lives.”

As outlined on their site, the ambition for the collective is to support and lead an advanced and lasting environment within female football clubs, founded on effective practices to meet the varied requirements of female athletes. Succeeding in this, with collective agreement, with no need to make the case for specific initiatives, is hugely liberating.

“I compare it with moving from a large ship to a fast boat,” remarks she. “You are essentially navigating in uncharted waters – as we say in the Netherlands, I'm unsure if it translates well – and it's necessary to trust your individual understanding and experience for making correct choices. Adjusting course and speeding up is possible with a speedboat. In a lean group like this, that is simple to achieve.”

She notes: “Here, we have a completely white sheet of paper to start with. For me, what we do focuses on impacting football more extensively and that white paper permits you to undertake anything you desire, following the sport's regulations. This is the appeal of our collective project.”

The ambition is high, the executives are saying the things athletes and supporters want to hear and it will be compelling to observe the evolution of this organization, the team and other teams that may join.

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