I have known Smithy for years and have been fortunate enough for him to provide me with some advice as well as having really good discussions about Women’s Football. His passion and qualities were, and still are very obvious, and so when I was offered the opportunity to go and support Alex, I knew this was an opportunity to be part of something special. My sister was a good footballer when we were younger but at that time unfortunately, she didn’t have any opportunities at all to join a club or be coached. I enjoy being part of something where so much has changed and the opportunities are there now. The development I have made as a coach at Sirens will live with me for many years to come and I feel very lucky. As a result, I give it my all.

2. What does your coaching journey look like to date?

My coaching journey spans over 10 years and you can’t pay for the learning and development you can build in that length of time. I have had to go through some moments where I have wondered whether I should continue. None of those occasions have been result related. They have been when I feel I have inadvertently caused upset to someone. Over time you realise you cannot keep everyone happy all of the time but certainly early on, you might not realise that, and it can hit you quite hard. Anyone who knows me well enough will say that I self-reflect a lot and therefore will take things on myself rather than push pressure on to others. So, even if I have done something such as substitute a player, I mistakenly thought had played most of the game but actually had barely played any, I was still devastated for how that made the player and their family feel. Some coaches might not have done what I did, but within an hour of realising it, I went round to speak to the family (including the dog which clearly knew and was barking at me) and rectified the situation by reassuring them that this was a genuine miscalculation. Who knows, if I hadn’t done that the player could have gone as far as giving up football.

I fondly look upon my time as a youth coach and took the team from the 6th division to the 1st Division of Tyro and even won the cup despite being in Division 2 at the time. My memories of assisting Alex with reserves a couple of seasons ago were amazing, especially when I was also able to watch Smithy, Craig and others coaching on the other side of the pitch and quite frankly, that overall experience meant I didn’t think twice about returning once I knew it would be them, I would be coaching with. Furthermore, the coaches I have met this season - James, Lee, Mark and Nathan as well as support from Rick and Ella - have made this season a fight well worth sticking at and I therefore think my biggest achievement is the here and now and no matter how the table looks at the end of the season, we have kept the adult section of the club alive and securing a future for those who want to continue next season and for the players in the youth section. I take immense pride in being a part of that.

3. As mentioned above, you previously coached the reserves, how has the step up been?

Coaching the reserves was my first experience in Women’s football and I enjoyed it from moment one as I have been surrounded by elite level coaches at both reserves and first team level. This allowed me to recognise where I could be of value and assist in delivering the best training possible for our players.

It is difficult to compare any ’step up’ as the set-up is now different two years on. We had a difficult pre-season as we effectively had to build a squad from scratch in late August. Due to this, players had been de-registered, and we no longer had the numbers available to have a reserves side meaning the set-up completely changed – making it difficult to compare the ‘step up’.

However, the high standard of coaching, as well as sheer determination by all involved has helped us survive which is so important for younger players at the club who need to be able to look up to and be inspired by our first team, as well as giving them a target to aim for. So, my ‘step up’ has been a busy period, but now we look to have stabilised the team, I look back on it as an experience that nobody can take away from me that will hold me in good stead moving into the future.

4. As a defender yourself, what has your footballing journey looked like and how has this impacted your coaching style?

Like many others, my coaching began as a parent on the side-line watching their children start their footballing journey. I felt like I could provide some good input and became a helper which then quickly resulted on me being put on the (as was) Level 1 coaching course and inheriting a team which was entered into the U8’s EDMSL. I don’t think at that age group I fully understood how to truly make development fun for the children and if I were to do it again, I’d be far better equipped to make best use of that precious time I had with them.

That said, my coaching style changed, and players developed well, with a number of them being taken from me to play for clubs who were considered a higher standard. Despite some initial reservations about this, I began to see it as a compliment as sometimes you need to peel things back and recognise that despite all you are putting in, it is for the players and not your own ego. There are times of course, when that can be forgotten - especially the higher up the leagues we went - but ultimately, I look back and think the balance was fairly good.

Due to my defensive playing background, I think I perhaps felt that this must be the priority for every fixture. However, I really felt that the UEFA C qualification opened my mind up to using those principles of play to coach in multiple scenarios and be a bit more attacking minded than before.

I still play 11v11 football and have captained the Hampshire Police Veterans Team for several years in the National League’s and Cup competitions. This is really important now to my coaching as I can recognise whether the ideas, I am trying to install with the Sirens is realistic or not in a match situation. I played away, this week, to the Met Police and had a few moments where I found myself needing to communicate with my teammates, especially around cover and balance and it’s not easy to get it right on every moment you need to. I will use this experience to help coach the backline especially over the coming week or so, as this is an area we have been working on in more depth recently.

5. You are responsible for the back line of the team, obviously results have not always gone our way this season, how would you view defensive performances across the season and how have these improved?

Well firstly, let’s look at the results. Anyone viewing in from the outside will consider the back line have failed this season. I think that the reality is that we had no defenders (or players at all) in mid-August so it was always going to take some time to develop a backline who knew their responsibilities. This has also not been helped by injuries. Adding to that, we are now in February, and it is only recently that we have signed players who have experience at the level we are playing at. This isn’t about excuses but more about reasons.

That said, what I’m still staggered by is the determination of every one of the players for returning to training every week to try and get it right. I have so much respect for them sticking at it and for us to get our first clean sheet in the league on Sunday, last time out, shows to me that the defensive performances have improved. Although, I have to say that clean sheet was with me not present so perhaps that is the answer to any previous issues!

The other coaches have massively contributed to the backline’s recent success and therefore our development and improvement has been throughout the squad and not just the backline.

6. What are your targets for the rest of the season, personally, within the club and for the club as a whole?

My target for the rest of the season is to try and build some momentum and see where we are at the end of the season. Personally, I want to be able to look back and know that we have provided the backline with the best possibility of developing as a unit ready to compete with each team in the league and reduce unforced errors. We are clearly the best unit within the squad so it’s about keeping those standards high now and pushing the other units to reach our standards. As I have said previously, the goal for the club is to ensure it continues and provides opportunities for youth players.

7. What is the ‘Shin Pad Trophy’?

On my first session when returning to the club I attended a friendly where I only knew one player from previously. One of the players who I didn’t know from before, came off injured having been caught by an opponent around the shin area. I went over to check she was okay - only to find out she was wearing these awful (my opinion, not necessarily the clubs) ‘mini shin pads’ which barely provide any protection from potential injury. I had seen these things before but not on an adult and went home in disbelief. I managed to obtain a similar one and decided to turn it into a trophy which is now competed for on a weekly basis in our warmup practice activity every Thursday night.

The winners of the trophy hold it up aloft in a team photo and at the end of the season there’ll be a more traditional trophy handed out for the player with the most wins. Ironically, the shinpad trophy games can be highly competitive and shin pads are definitely required. I also get plenty of stick from the players if they don’t like my decision making or point scoring. To be honest, it’s always a bit of a relief when that part of the practice is complete so I can feel less tense!

8. Could you tell us how much you hate putting up the dugouts?

This goes back to my time with the reserves where we had to put up both dugouts for every home game and I think it just brings back memories of trying to either put them up or take them down in the typical weather we get in this country during most of the football season. On one occasion, we had to move quite quickly as we could see lightening in the distance which was clearly coming our way. I’ve moaned about having to do this job and I was tricked earlier in the season into thinking I was going to have to put them up again which sent me into a full-blown rant to anyone who would listen, only for me to find out that it was a wind up and caused great amusement to all involved!

9. What’s your life like away from coaching and Sirens?

My life outside of coaching involves me going to watch my son’s play football and so my week is effectively filled with that. I have been married to my beautiful wife Kerry for nearly 18 years and we try to spend time together where we can. I suspect that she also quite enjoys the peace she gets when I am out coaching so never discourages me from going! I used to own a videography company and have filmed over 100 weddings over a period of 15 years which has been hard work but very rewarding. The only reason I stopped doing that was because I couldn’t give it the time I wanted to anymore and didn’t want to let anyone down.