What’s your initial feelings surrounding taking on the managerial job?

“It’s bittersweet. Obviously, I’d rather be coming into the role in more positive circumstances. I have a lot of respect for James, and I enjoyed working him. It’s been a challenging season for a variety of reasons but I’m excited to lead the team into these final games.”

Is it something you have always wanted to do?

“Yes, it is, I’ve managed youth and development teams in the past, but first team management has always been a goal of mine. That said, I’ve turned down a handful of managerial roles over the years that have been offered as they came at times where I wanted to build more experience as a coach or assistant.”

How do you feel having the opportunity to be a manager - something you haven’t done before?

“It’s an exciting challenge, a chance to apply my own ideas and make final decisions, although I am also aware of the extra pressure that comes with that at this level!”

What are your aims and targets for the team and perhaps yourself for the remaining 4 games of the season?

“I’m going to wheel out an old cliche here but taking it on a game-by-game basis! The overall aim is to try and take as many points as we can in those 4 games, but each one needs to be prepared for diligently before, so we can focus on the next.”

Where do you want to take the club - what’s your aspirations?

“At the moment I’m not looking beyond the end of the season and just focussing on trying to get the most out of this group of players and trying to get some positive results to end the season with.”

How have the team responded to you becoming manager, have you had the chance to speak to any of them yet or run any training sessions?

“At the time of writing this (Thursday) my first session is tonight! I’ve already spoken to the players over message and the mood seems positive from everyone, but I know that’ll probably change once I must start upsetting people with team selections!”

What’s your career looked like to date?

“I’ve coached in women’s football for over a decade now, starting in 2013 as the manager of the Portsmouth Women development team, I also got to be involved with the first team as they won the FAWNL Southern Premier in the 2014/15 season. From there I went to Bristol City and coached the U17s and development team, which was a great experience being involved in a WSL setup. From there I went out to Canada for a stint as Director of Player Development at Toronto High Park FC, which was a step outside my comfort zone experiencing a different football culture. After returning to the UK, I joined Brighton & Hove Albion Women as a coach with their U16s. Following a season there Aaron Smith (our chairman) got in touch with me in 2018 as he was the manager at Chichester City Women and was looking to recruit a new coach there to work with the first team. After one meeting with him and Matt Wright I was sold, and we ended up having a great season where we finished 3rd in the FAWNL Southern Premier with limited resources. After that I followed Smithy over to the Sirens before leaving in 2022. Then at the start of this season with all the turmoil at the club Smithy convinced me to come back and just help out whenever I could, which has somehow now ended up with me being manager!”

What new ideas do you want to implement into the team?

“I don’t think I’ll be looking to implement anything too radical in terms of ideas, as I believed in what was being done here previously in the season and was a part of that. It’ll be more about tweaking some of the finer details and seeing where I can squeeze out any improvement.”

What type or managerial style do you have?

“I’ve definitely been more tactically driven for a lot of my career although always had good relationships with players, but that’s sometimes easier as an assistant as you’re never the one delivering bad news!”

How important is the youth set up within the club and what will you do to continue growing this?

“The youth setup is massively important, it’s always great seeing a bit of the sessions with the age groups who are on the pitch before us on Tuesdays and obviously we train side by side with the U18s so we see a lot of them and sometimes incorporate them into 11v11 training sessions, which means we get to see how those players look alongside the established first team players, it’s a good barometer. We’re actually running an 11v11 with them for part of my first session too.”

What are your hobbies and what are you like away from football?

“A lot of my life revolves around football to be honest, I’m a Southampton FC fan and go to games quite regularly, I also watch non-league games and travel abroad too when I can (I watched a game in Bosnia last year). When I do decide to do things away from football I enjoy playing/watching basketball and going to live music gigs.”