'The time was right' - Oxtoby swaps Northern Ireland for Newcastle

Stepping away from international football to manage a club in England's second tier was a decision Tanya Oxtoby "didn't take lightly" - but it is easy to see why she made it.

The 43-year-old spent two years in charge of Northern Ireland after arriving in 2023 but left to join Newcastle United in the WSL 2 this week.

The Australian, who made 14 appearances for Doncaster Rovers Belles as a player, has spent the best part of 10 years coaching in the UK, including managing Bristol City between 2018-2021.

She hopes a return to every day coaching, surrounded by lavish resources, will help her fulfill her ambition of leading Newcastle into the WSL.

Oxtoby leaves behind a young Northern Ireland team, who she guided through a transition period, but ultimately felt the time was right to move on.

"Getting back on the grass every day is something I really missed," Oxtoby told BBC Sport.

"I hope I can have a really positive impact. It wasn't a decision [Oxtoby and her family] took lightly. We had to weigh it up.

"As the international breaks start to get longer and my little boy gets a bit older, the time away from each other was getting more difficult.

"From a personal perspective, not being on the grass as much and working with players every day was what I was craving again."

When she joined, Oxtoby signed a four-year deal with NI, who had just competed in their first major tournament at Euro 2022 and transitioned into a full-time set-up.

It was a left-field appointment because she had a range of experiences including roles as assistant manager at Scotland, Chelsea and Australia’s under-20s.

The job was a big one - staffing was small, resources were sparse, the structure was new and the squad was ageing. She faced challenges as a result.

Oxtoby was critical of conditions NI faced on their travels and she had to lower the average age of the squad from 26.7 to 24.8 as part of the transitional period.

By the end of her tenure, a higher percentage of NI's squad were playing in England or Scotland, with just nine players domestic-based from the squad in October.

"I probably didn't realise exactly what I was walking into in terms of where it was at," Oxtoby admitted.

"I'm super proud of what I did there - the transition of the squad and bringing younger players through. It was also putting in processes and the professionalisation.

"A little bit of how we operated and what we did was a real challenge. There also needed to be a look at what's next.

"It was almost like what one environment wasn't able to give, the other one was in a position to. It just felt like the right time [to join Newcastle]."

Oxtoby talks fondly about her time with Northern Ireland but admitted "not everything was perfect".

Changes were needed to speed up their growth to help them break into League A of the Nations League and back to a major tournament.

"I came from a club environment where you're around people every day, to then going into an international environment where you're quite isolated at times," said Oxtoby.

"It was the ability from a staffing structure for us to have in place what we needed and we were building towards that, but it was probably not going quickly enough.

"It's just one of those things. When I look at the number of staff we've got [at Newcastle] to be able to bring processes to life, I felt when I went into Northern Ireland there probably wasn't that.

"It's something they are still working towards. The support I got and the willingness to make it better - all of that was there. But it just felt like it was taking a little bit longer than I would have liked."

Oxtoby has previous experience in the WSL, managing Bristol City for three years before becoming assistant coach to Emma Hayes at Chelsea.

She knows the expectation at Newcastle is to earn promotion with the club investing in the transfer window and on resources.

"I came in with my eyes open, knowing exactly what we were going after. I embraced it and wanted it," said Oxtoby, when asked if she is prepared for the pressure.

"I wanted to be in an environment where there was a real ambition and drive to want to succeed. When I talk about alignment, that's exactly it."

Oxtoby had conversations with Newcastle's club executives before joining and felt she had the skillsets which went in her favour.

They have already had discussions about the January transfer window and are viewing things as part of a "two or three-year plan".

On what the club's priorities were from the new coach, Oxtoby said: "It was the ability to be able to lead a multidisciplinary team, have really clear processes that were of a WSL level, be able to implement those quickly and clearly and obviously develop players with a history of winning."

She hopes her time at Northern Ireland will put her in good stead and learning to be "adaptable" is something she has taken away from it.

"You know what the best practise is and how you want it to look like, but maybe sometimes you can't always do that - whether that's down to time, resource, or maybe personnel," said Oxtoby.

"It's the ability to be able to tweak that so that you're still getting a similar outcome but you're doing it in different way. That was probably one of the key things.

"Also in international football you have to plan every single detail. The processes that go with that, you can certainly implement."