Hot on the heels of Sarina Wiegman staying on as the head coach of the Lionesses after back-to-back European success, netball has made its big coaching move.

Anna Stembridge, who was appointed on an interim basis after Jess Thirlby unexpectedly stepped down as the head coach of England’s Roses months before this year’s Commonwealth Games, has been handed the job permanently.

The parallels end there. Wiegman, who last year became the first coach to win three consecutive women’s European Championships, is a serial winner. For the Football Association, retaining the Dutchwoman, the organisation’s most successful manager across the men’s or women’s game, was a no-brainer.

Stembridge, by contrast, has failed to guide England to a medal at two separate Commonwealth Games and is yet to prove her coaching credentials on the biggest stage. The fact that England Netball has appointed her through to the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney smacks of a complete lack of ambition. Is there a more glaring example of a sports governing body so keen to award failure?

Although Stembridge has a highly respectable CV and is a deeply intelligent individual – she even has Premier League expertise – she has unfortunately fallen at major tournaments. In true Traitors style, she already had a lot of heat on her when she was announced as Thirlby’s temporary replacement four months before the Games, with many pointing out that she had overseen England’s podium-less 2014 Commonwealth campaign in Glasgow (the Scottish city has not been a happy hunting ground).

“It’s good that people have opinions and are talking about netball,” she told Telegraph Sport last June, a month before England would crash out of the Games against eventual champions New Zealand 61-54 in the semi-final. “Ultimately, I’m the right person for this job.” After another disappointing Games – England have not won a Commonwealth medal since their historic gold in Australia in 2018 – that statement rings hollow.

News of Stembridge’s permanent appointment has gone down like a lead balloon across the netball community, raising more questions than answers. On social media, fans have been left baffled by the decision to reappoint a head coach that has twice failed to make a podium at two Games. It does nothing to enhance the credibility of a sport that wants to be taken seriously and treated professionally. Did the organisation expect glowing praise?

England Netball insists there was a “rigorous”, “open”, “thorough” (insert your choice of alternative adjective here) recruitment process which involved candidates from across the global game. But sources have told Telegraph Sport that the governing body was hardly inundated with applicants for the top job in English netball. “Overseas coaches won’t touch it,” said one netball insider. “No one wants to work for them.” It is also telling that in the release about Stembridge’s appointment, she emerged as the “strongest” candidate, rather than being described as a “standout” one.

Telegraph Sport knows of at least one leading domestic coach who was asked to apply but, perhaps unconvinced by the lack of strategic direction at an organisation which last year oversaw £1m losses across its elite competition, the Netball Super League, did not. With Manchester announced as the hosts of the 2031 Netball World Cup earlier this month, it paints a bleak picture.

A shred of optimism can at least be found in the addition of Tamsin Greenway, the former England international, who has been unveiled as one of Stembridge’s assistants alongside Jo Harten.

Greenway’s inclusion is intriguing given she has spent years honing a role as a respected pundit within the sport – and some might say a much-needed sceptic – who has used her platform to scrutinise England Netball from the outside. She will bring fresh ideas, but will probably not be as talkative now that she is inside the system.

It is England Netball’s decision-making which is the main issue at play here, rather than Stembridge’s expertise. It is time the body stopped taking its fans for fools.