“There’s no perfect job in football, but looking at this just now, it’s as close to perfect as it could be.”
It’s safe to say Leanne Crichton is buzzing about returning home to Glasgow City.
The former midfielder enjoyed three highly successful spells at Petershill Park and will return as assistant coach to former team-mate, Leanne Ross.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, the last couple of days my phone has been busy,” Crichton said on the BBC’s Behind the Goals podcast.
“Folk that are City daft are buzzing that a former player is coming back.
“That seems to be the vibe and it’s just one of these things that caught me off guard. My mind was blown.”
After a few years away from the City sphere, Crichton has perhaps forgot the impact she had on those of a City persuasion.
She’s learning a few things on her return, though, none more so than the vast improvements the club have made in the three years since she left.
“It feels like a new club,” she added. “I totally underestimated how different it was, the facilities and the resources.
“I never realised the staffing structure was as extensive as it is, everything that Glasgow City have got is what most of the top-flight men’s sides in Scotland are operating with, it’s probably better than some.
“From the outside looking in, people might think it’s a gamble or a bit risky, but it’s going to be unbelievable.”
Everything is falling into place for new mum Crichton who describes the switch as a “sliding doors moment”.
“One of the reasons I left Glasgow City was to go and make mistakes,” she said.
“Go and coach and learn and develop and sell myself as a coach in a different environment, not somewhere I was protected and where I had a status as a former player having achieved so much.
“It is complete a sliding doors moment, it’s such a crossroads with my work-life balance for what that looked like for me and my family. There’s no perfect job in football, but looking at this just now, it’s as close to perfect as it could be.”
You can listen and subscribe to the Behind the Goals podcast with Rachel and Leanne here.