Meet the only English manager at the Euros

It's casual to spot wherefore Gemma Grainger gets mistaken for a Norwegian. Sitting successful the sunshine extracurricular a java store adjacent her Oslo flat, she looks precise overmuch astatine home. It's lone erstwhile she speaks and you perceive her north-east accent bash you realise, she is distinctly English.

"I ever thought that I was gangly successful tallness until I came here," 5ft 10in Grainger tells BBC Sport. "Then I realised these are my radical due to the fact that I'm mean tallness here, which is nice."

The 42-year-old from Middlesbrough took implicit arsenic caput manager of Norway's women's squad 18 months ago. And since then, she has had to accommodate to a caller benignant of civilization disconnected the transportation and physique a caller 1 connected it.

This week she volition instrumentality connected the biggest situation of her vocation erstwhile she leads the nationalist broadside into the Euros. It besides makes her the lone English caput manager astatine the tournament.

But for Grainger, who was antecedently adjunct manager to the Lionesses nether Mark Sampson and caput manager of Wales, determination are nary mixed allegiances here.

"This is thing I've worked for my full career. So, I'm incredibly arrogant and privileged to enactment with this radical of players.

"They've fixed maine this accidental due to the fact that they spot thing successful me. And for me, I privation to repay that. So, erstwhile we spell into this tournament, I privation to beryllium the manager that tin bring this squad success.

"I privation Wales and England to bash well," she says, earlier adding with a laughter - "except for erstwhile they're playing Norway".

One of the archetypal things you announcement astir Grainger is her precise calm demeanour. The second, is her axenic emotion for the game. Even arsenic manager of a nationalist team, she thinks thing of giving up an evening to manager a league to youngsters.

She has adjacent coaching relationships with USA caput manager Emma Hayes and ex-England brag Gareth Southgate. She sees players arsenic radical archetypal and has spent the past twelvemonth and a fractional gathering a "holistic" civilization astatine Norway that allows the players to beryllium themselves.

"As an planetary manager, it's astir taking attraction of people. It's astir making definite that erstwhile they travel present and erstwhile they leave, they can't hold to travel back," she says.

"When they're here, I marque definite that they tin beryllium who they are. And from my perspective, I truly worth enactment wrong the team, truthful I springiness them the accidental to ain that.

"It's astir the bully moments, the uncomfortable moments and honesty and that is the strongest portion of our team."

And her lukewarm attack has been good received by the squad, including women's shot icon Ada Hegerberg, Norway's captain.

"She's a precise empathic woman," she told BBC Sport. "She sees the quality successful you archetypal disconnected and I worth that a lot. She's a precise intelligent woman, we've had a batch of comic discussions and I bask that.

"It's been truly refreshing for america to get that mentality into the group. She's been a large positive for us."

And her thoughts were echoed by defender Guro Bergsvand. "She's precise calm and precise passionate astir what she wants from the squad and what values we person arsenic a team.

"She cares astir her players, but she wants to get the champion retired of each one. She's not going to beryllium the manager who screams successful the locker room."

Norway's erstwhile quality astatine a large tournament, the 2023 World Cup, was overshadowed by subordinate unrest nether erstwhile manager Hege Riise.

The president of the Norwegian FA, Lise Klaveness, admits that Grainger was not connected their archetypal database of candidates erstwhile they started to enlistee for a caller caput manager and was lone added to summation the fig of females they saw. But erstwhile Grainger sat successful beforehand of them, they knew they had the close person.

"She truly impressed america done a precise thorough process. She's precise nerdy, she loves football. She's precise professional, warm, benignant and worth based.

"One of the things that's impressed maine astir is however unfastened she is to Norwegian civilization and caller challenges. She's a mediator, she's honorable but she's bully astatine making radical connect.

Norway were erstwhile a powerhouse of women's football. They won the World Cup successful 1995, were crowned European Champions successful 1987 and 1993 and added an Olympic golden medal successful 2000. However, caller tournaments person not been benignant to the side, contempt producing a agelong enactment of planetary stars.

They past reached a large last astatine the European Championship successful 2013 and person failed to get retired of the radical astatine the past 2 Euros. At the 2022 tournament, they suffered a humiliating 8-0 decision by the Lionesses successful the radical stage.

Under Grainger they bushed Northern Ireland 7-0 connected aggregate to suffice for the Euros via the play-offs, portion they person had mixed results successful their caller Women's Nations League group, wherever they finished 2nd down France.

This summertime they unfastened their tourney against hosts Switzerland and past play Finland and Iceland successful Group A.

For Grainger, the lone mode is up.

"Coming from the extracurricular is 1 of my biggest strengths due to the fact that I don't consciousness the things that they [the players] feel. I spot the imaginable successful this team.

"Norwegian radical are precise passionate astir football. Very passionate astir the nationalist team. So, for us, determination is pressure. We privation to marque definite that we bash the state arrogant but besides that you spot a squad that you bask watching.

"The anticipation is for america to get retired the group. I'm not going to beryllium present and accidental we're going to triumph it, due to the fact that we privation to instrumentality a crippled astatine a time. It's a cliche, it's boring but it's however it's going to be.

"Women's shot has ne'er been much competitive, the margins are good and they're getting finer.

"We're going to spot a batch of teams putting themselves nether unit to triumph it due to the fact that I deliberation expectations are precocious successful galore countries. But for us, it's genuinely astir making definite that we're the squad that we privation to be.

"We volition transmission everything into each crippled to get retired of that group. And past of course, erstwhile you get retired the group, you instrumentality it from there.

Grainger is not idiosyncratic who craves the spotlight, but her coaching CV is immense and impressive. From starting retired astatine Leeds United 15 years ago, she rapidly moved her mode done the England younker teams which gave her invaluable acquisition of large tournaments.

And nary uncertainty that was portion of the crushed that Lionesses caput manager Sampson asked her to articulation the England elder coaching acceptable up for the 2017 Euros. A tourney wherever England made the semi-finals.

"I predominately worked with the guardant players successful that tournament. So, a batch of my memories connected the transportation were moving with Jodie Taylor [who claimed the Golden Boot]. That's thing that I retrieve fondly.

"When you're the assistant, you get the luxury of spending clip connected the pitch. The much clip connected the pitch, the much clip with the players."

But erstwhile asked if 1 time she would similar to instrumentality to the England acceptable up arsenic manager, the reply is clear, astatine the infinitesimal Norway is her lone focus.

"Right now, I'm incredibly happy. The enactment that I person present with the federation and the enactment that I'm doing with Norway is perfectly the close spot for maine to be. But 1 day, I could beryllium interested."

Grainger got her archetypal elder planetary caput manager relation erstwhile Wales appointed her successful 2021, which she says was a "very proud" moment, and went connected to usher them to the brink of World Cup qualification successful 2023.

But erstwhile Norway made their attack for her 3 years later, she said she knew it was not an accidental she could crook down.

Should Norway scope the semi-finals, Grainger could find herself coming up against 1 of her erstwhile sides, with some England and Wales warring it retired successful Group D.

Grainger inactive splits her clip betwixt Norway and England, but her Norwegian is simply a enactment successful progress.

"I recognize it now. It's really a smaller connection truthful there's a batch of words that they usage successful English, which is bully for me. But it's coming on and it's thing that I've tried to embrace. The squad talks are inactive successful English though.

"The past 18 months person been incredible. I honestly person embraced the culture, the lifestyle, the football. So I'm having a large time."