In her first media availability since being named coach of the Canadian women's soccer team, Casey Stoney offered a pithy summary of her approach to coaching.
"I'm here to make people better," said the 42-year-old former England captain. "That's my job."
Stoney's resume is replete with excellence.
A defender, Stoney won 130 caps for England and captained Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics.
She represented England at three FIFA Women’s World Cups — winning bronze at the 2015 tournament after coming off the bench as England defeated host Canada 2-1 in the quarterfinal before 54,027 at B.C. Place Stadium. During that tournament she was honoured with an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to football.
A two-time winner of the Football Association International Player of the Year Award (2008, 2012), Stoney won the Women’s FA Cup four times (2001, 2005, 2014, 2016), the League Cup four times (2000, 2001, 2004, 2006) and the Women’s Community Shield three times (2000, 2001, 2004).
She retired in 2018, after stints with Arsenal, Charlton, Chelsea, Lincoln and Liverpool to join then-England women's coach Phil Neville's coaching staff.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women have been without a permanent coach since Bev Priestman was sent home during the Paris Olympics last summer due to the drone-spying scandal.
Stoney and Priestman were ships passing in the night with the England women's staff.
Stoney left the England setup in June 2018 to become the inaugural head coach of Manchester United women, earning promotion to the Women’s Super League and recording 52 wins in 77 competitive matches.
Priestman joined England's women's coaching staff that August, leaving her job as director of Canada Soccer's so-called EXCEL developmental program, as well as youth head coach and senior women's assistant coach. She returned to take charge of the Canadian women in October 2020.
After Manchester United, Stoney took over the expansion San Diego Wave in the NWSL in 2021, winning coach of the year honours in 2022 and leading the team to its first two trophies — the 2023 NWSL Shield and the 2024 Challenge Cup.
Canada Soccer says Stoney will start with the Canadian women in February at the Pinatar Cup, a three-match series in Spain.
Stoney said she had to warm to the job in discussions with Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue, admitting she had her doubts at first. But Blue and others won her over.
"I wanted to be involved with an organization that was led with real principles and values. And I felt the more time I spent with Kevin, the more I learned about his values and what he wanted to do with Canada Soccer, the more and more I became very engrossed in the project and the more determined I was that I wanted to be part of it."
Jesse Marsch, whom Blue hired last May as the men's coach, speaks equally highly of Blue.
And just as Marsch has talked up the Canadian Premier League and growing the game in Canada, Stoney says she wants to do the same with the fledgling Northern Super League which kicks off in April.
"I saw what the WSL (Women's Super League) did for the English league. Also what it did for the English team — (it) took them on to new heights," she said, referencing the fourth-ranked Lionesses.
While Stoney did not address her San Diego departure — she was fired last June with the team mired in a seven-game losing streak — her several references to integrity seemed telling. Stoney's somewhat surprising exit came just five months after San Diego rewarded her with a new contract running though the 2027 season with a mutual option for 2028.
Stoney, who signed a three-year contract with Canada Soccer that runs through the next World Cup with an option for 2028, also pointed to the Canadian program's talent and culture as attractions for the job.
She talked to the Canadian players on Saturday, telling them "I'm a players' coach."
"I know that they've been through a troubled past but I wouldn't have taken this job if I wasn't confident it was moving in the right direction," she added.
Stoney said she and her family — she has three children with her partner Megan Harris, a former Lincoln teammate — will remain in San Diego for the time being to ease avoid disruption.
As it did in hiring Marsch, Canada Soccer says it received help in landing Stoney. Her appointment: is supported by philanthropic contributions to Canada Soccer, and she is the first beneficiary of a new fund established specifically to "support women in elite coaching."
Blue said Canada Soccer started the search for a coach with "an initial screening" of 40 to 50 candidates.
Assistant coach Andy Spence coached Canada for the remainder of the Olympics after Priestman's departure. Under-20 coach Cindy Tye served as interim coach for the team's most recent outings against Iceland and South Korea.
Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi are all serving a one-year FIFA ban for their role in the scandal and are no longer with Canada Soccer.
Canada Soccer says several women's team alumni, including Stephanie Labbé, Diana Matheson, Erin McLeod and Melissa Tancredi "played a critical advisory role in the hiring process," along with Canada Soccer president Peter Augruso and Sara McConaghy, leader of Canada Soccer’s Women’s Football Working Group.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2025.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
