Since overseeing Scotland’s heartbreaking and dramatic World Cup exit at the hands of Argentina, national team manager Shelley Kerr has been picking up her players and getting their bid to reach Euro 2021 on track.

It has been a successful start to the campaign, too; an 8-0 rout of Cyprus in the opening fixture of their qualifying group was followed up with a 5-0 triumph in Albania on Friday evening.

Kerr’s work with the national team has not gone unnoticed and the 50-year-old’s name is consistently mentioned when jobs in the men’s game become available.

There has never been a female manager of a professional men’s team in Scotland, but Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert thinks Kerr could one day make history in this regard. 

After all, she was the first woman to manage a men’s side in the UK when she took charge of Lowland League outfit Stirling University.

“Yeah, I could see that,” said Cuthbert when asked about the prospect of Kerr taking charge of a professional men’s team. “We’ve got a lot of female coaches – we’ve got a female coach at Chelsea as well.

“I think Shelley’s coached in the men’s game before so she’s been there and done that. There’s no reason that can’t happen.

“I’m a firm believer that if you’re good enough then it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female – you have a right to be there.”

Scotland’s trip to Albania gave Cuthbert the opportunity to catch up with her former team-mates at Glasgow City and the Chelsea midfielder admitted that she is envious of their success in the Champions League.

“It’s just incredible to see City qualifying for the last eight of the Champions League,” Cuthbert said. “I’m a little bit jealous because we [Chelsea] never qualified for the Champions League so I do envy some of my team-mates just now.

“It’s an amazing achievement to be the only part-time club still in the competition alongside some big European powerhouses. I’m happy and proud of them.”

And although Glasgow City will face German heavyweights Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals, Cuthbert is optimistic about her Scotland team-mates’ chances.

“Anything’s possible,” she said. “I think they need to believe.

“At Chelsea, we came up against Lyon last year and everyone wrote us off before the game [the French side ultimately secured a narrow 3-2 aggregate win before going on to win the competition]. 

"I think you have to use that to your advantage and they’ve got four months to prepare for it, so I’m sure they’ll be well-prepared and in the best shape possible to play that game.”

Scotland’s World Cup exit earlier this year remains a painful memory for Cuthbert, but the 21-year-old is determined to ensure that the 3-3 draw with Argentina which saw them crash out in France will not be her last shot at the showpiece event.

“I’ve definitely learned the hard way but it’s only fuelled my fire,” Cuthbert said. 

“I want more of it and the team deserve to be there. We know that we’re good enough and belong on that stage so it makes us want to be fitter, faster, stronger, more everything.”