Less than a day passed between Fran Alonso learning on Monday of interest from Celtic Women and then signing a one-year contract to become their new head coach – making the decision to move 466 miles from Lewes to Glasgow in the process – such is his conviction that something is happening in Scotland. “It’s about feelings – not only in your head, but in your heart,” Alonso says. “The moment I saw the opportunity, it just felt right. It was easy.”

On Jan 7, Celtic Women announced, a year after first mooting plans to do so, that they had turned professional. Alonso’s first day involved meeting over 20 staff with ties to the women’s team and seeing the blueprints for a new training ground, exclusively for Celtic Women, that will open shortly. On Saturday, they fly to Gran Canaria for a training camp including a friendly against Bayer Leverkusen. Their season begins on Feb 23, against 13-time league champions Glasgow City.

“We want to be the most successful club in the country,” Alonso says. He is wary of adding pressure to players new to fully-professional football just because of the weight of the Celtic badge, but the long-term aim is clear. “The last months of competition, if we’re in a position to challenge for a title, maybe then is a good time to say, ‘Our goal is to try to win the league and qualify for the Champions League.’ For this transition we are experiencing, I think that would be too much pressure for the girls if we said, ‘We are Celtic and we have to win the league.’ Everything is through a process.”