Olid had left Hearts hinting that, despite winning the league title for the first time in their history, she was not going to be given the financial backing she wanted next season.
There is a sense that the domestic women’s game has lost a bit of the momentum in terms of public excitement and backing from their parent clubs it had when Celtic were first to go full-time professional in 2019 and Rangers, Hibs and Hearts soon followed.
However, former Partick Thistle manager Brian Graham suggested: “Over the last five or six years, the standard of the women’s game in Scotland is definitely getting better – and it’s only going one way.
“I would love to see it getting supported and backed a little bit more at times. We want to see more fans in here today.”
As for the Hampden protagonists, Graham thought Celtic deserved their victory because of the way they defended resolutely after their goal – and because Rangers did not make the most of their one-player advantage.
“They lost the League Cup to Glasgow City, they lost the league on the last day, now they’ve lost the Scottish Cup on the last day of the season.” he pointed out.
“So she [Crichton] will be bitterly disappointed because, over the piece, she’s had a good first season but just not got over that final hurdle for silverware.
“However, Leanne has done an incredible job after coming from Motherwell as assistant.”
Graham agreed with Scott – that Celtic have the momentum going into the new season.
“Believe me, there will have been a bit of self-doubt among these Celtic players this afternoon knowing the fact they had not beaten Rangers in 10 games,” he said.
“They know it’s not been the season they wanted, but winning here, it will give them that belief going into next season.
“Congratulations to him [Scott] getting the first piece of silverware in a short period of time.
“He knows he’s going to have a big summer. He’ll have payers going out, he’ll have players coming in. It’s a rebuild situation at Celtic now.
“This is where he can really put his stamp on it moving on to next season. You can really judge him next season.
“Hearts winning the league and their manager leaving, there’s going to be a big upheaval there too.
“They’ll want to get players in, but they have a strong nucleus of a squad, although you never know, some of those players might get moves and the manager coming in.”
Former Rangers midfielder Clare Gemmell pointed out that it is “phenomenal” that the SWPL has had five different winners in the last five seasons.
Will Celtic build on their Hampden triumph as they aim for a second title and first since 2024?
