Managing a club full-time was always the job that I wanted.
Before I became West Ham manager, I had worked in football for nearly 25 years in a variety of roles – some paid, plenty unpaid. A lot of people in the women’s game have been in the same boat.
Doing this job – meaning I don’t need to do other football-related roles on the side because the salary isn’t enough to live on – is a relatively recent thing. It is only in the last four years that I have been able to devote all my attention to being a full-time club manager. That was at Tottenham first, and now at West Ham.
When I was playing, we trained from 8pm to 10pm because that was the only time we could get on a pitch. While studying business economics at the University of Leicester, I began coaching and started working for Leicester City’s community scheme. At that time, in the early 2000s, the visibility of women’s football was almost non-existent. That was something we worked on changing at Leicester.
When I graduated, I worked as Leicester’s women’s and girls development officer, for their Football in the Community scheme. My role was to provide opportunities for girls to play, because schools weren’t delivering football for young girls at the time. I organised lunchtime and after-school clubs and delivered PE lessons in primary and secondary schools. Some of them were mixed sessions, to engage the whole class.
At the same time, I coached Leicester City’s Under-14 and Under-16 centre-of-excellence teams. I was also working as a coach educator, lead coach at the Midlands elite performance camps, and assistant coach for England Under-15s. Incorporating all of these roles ensured I earned enough money to live on, as the finances were so low, while also gaining experience and improving my skillset as a coach and leader. Technically, I had a nine-to-five job – but I don’t think I saw my house until after 10.30pm every day.
