Middlesbrough-born coach on her multi-talented squad, leaving Wales and her instinctive desire to manage

Even as a proud Middlesbrough lass with ample experience of cold evenings coaching, the Norway manager, Gemma Grainger, was unprepared for her first trip to Oslo. “I came out of the airport and it was minus 24. They were laughing at me because I had some trousers on with trainer socks. ‘Are you crazy?’ Norwegians say: ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.’ It’s a nation with a fascinating grit and determination. The snow, for months on end, is about five- or six-feet high and there’s not an eyelid batted.”

Thankfully for Grainger, this week Norway are training in marginally warmer climes near her home in Leeds, using Leeds United men’s team’s pitches to break their journey as they prepare to face Northern Ireland in a playoff for a place at next summer’s European Championship, starting with Friday’s leg at Inver Park in Larne. A week ago she was helping a small grassroots team in the east of Oslo, Forward IL, with eyes on the future of the sport.