KIRK EXCITED BY LEICESTER CITY’S CLEAN SLATE - NBCSPORT KIRK EXCITED BY LEICESTER CITY’S CLEAN SLATE

Leicester City manager Willie Kirk says that he is excited by the prospect of his side having a fresh start this season.

Kirk was moved into the managerial hotseat following former boss Lydia Bedford’s sacking last November. He took charge of a Leicester City side that had zero points on the board and guided them to Barclays Women’s Super League safety, overcoming a seven-point deficit in the process.

Leicester City kick-off the 2023/2024 season with a fixture at Kirk’s former club Bristol City this weekend. He admits that he doesn’t care too much about facing his former side but he is excited by the prospect of starting again on zero points.

“That’s the one that I’m really excited about; starting off on zero points when everyone is on zero points rather than being the only club on zero points,” Kirk said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “That’s really exciting and I’m looking forward to the start to the season.

“There’s always a nice mixture of nerves and excitement about it and I think the previous club thing is irrelevant. It’s a nice one for me personally but it certainly won’t affect the game or the players.

“It’s a big stadium and we are happy that the first game of the season is being played at a good venue against a team that we know well having played them in pre-season

“It’s a big stadium and we are happy that the first game of the season is being played at a good venue against a team that we know well having played them in pre-season.

“There are a lot of positives about the fixture list. To be fair, it doesn’t matter who you play the first game of the season because everyone wants to get kicked-off and hopefully, accumulate points as quickly as possible.”

Leicester City’s dramatic escape from relegation last season was helped by underdog mentality. The Foxes thrived when the pressure was on their opponents. Kirk doesn’t expect his side to remain underdogs this season.

He said “Janice Cayman never came here to be an underdog and if you look at the calibre of the other players that we have brought in, they’ve not come here to be underdogs. That’s the challenge for us, to change that mentality.

“We will go into the game on Sunday probably as slight favourites and there are very few times that we could say that last year.

“It’s a complete change in mentality but we wanted that at the club. We’ve drilled our aims and ambitions into the players during pre-season, so it feels very different.”

Going on to discuss opponents Bristol City, Kirk said that he expects his side to come up against a team that are full of energy and enthusiasm.

“I think they’ve had good recruitment,” Kirk said. “Lauren (Smith) had a really young squad last year but there was lots of potential and they have added to it.

“Having played them in a friendly, we have a good idea of what to expect. They were very enthusiastic, aggressive in the press and worked very hard for Lauren and her staff.

“We’ve got a good idea of what we will get and we’ve recruited Jen (Foster) as assistant manager. She worked at Bristol City for a couple of years and knows them well.

“I don’t think there are any unknowns from them. I think they’ll have a decent season. I don’t know where it will take them in the league but they won’t fail from lack of enthusiasm that’s for sure.”

Leicester City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Bristol City kicks-off at 2pm on Sunday afternoon.