Marta Tejedor has left Birmingham City by mutual agreement after a weak start to the new year with a run of poor results in the Women’s Super League, which will see first-team coach Charlie Baxter stepping into the role of interim head coach with immediate effect, while the search for a permanent replacement goes on.
A contrasting season to last year
Tejedor came into the job in January 2019, and she took over after former manager Marc Skinner left to be in charge of Orlando Pride in the NWSL in the United States, and was able to lead the Blues to a fourth place in the WSL last season, landing on a record point total. The former Chile and Peru national coach has not been able to produce the same results this season, however, with the team currently sitting second from bottom in the table.
A lot of their best players left last season, with the likes of England striker Ellen White going to Manchester City, and it has been visible that they’ve been struggling to score goals, having only scored five WSL, which is the fewest in the league, and they’ve only managed to win two out of their 13 league games.
Worrying form a major factor
The poor run of results was a “major factor” for the change of management, Birmingham’s statement reads, as the club hover only one point above the relegation spot. They do have a game in hand over Liverpool, who are bottom at the moment on six points, and with a further nine WSL games still to go, as well as an FA cup quarter-final, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
Baxter has been with the team for some time now and was a part of the coaching staff that saw Skinner’s team go all the way to the FA cup final in 2017.