28/01/2018 The Women's Football Show

Hello. We are at the home of Chelsea

this week were one man in particular

will have a close eye on the Blues

lioness is here. Coming up, it has

been a turbulent week for Phil

Neville following his appointment as

the New England head coach. MSAs

withdrew to become the next manager,

can her side maintained their home

record when they host Everton? And

the new Doncaster manager aims to

engineer at their return to the top

flight. Plenty to discuss with

Rachel over the next half an hour

and we begin with England, where it

has not exactly been a quiet

introduction for the new boss.

Phil

Neville has been appointed head

coach of women's England football

team.

It is an honour to be the head

coach of the women's national team.

How can he jump above everyone else?

It is a fantastic opportunity for

him.

It is not really about Phil

Neville, it is someone pointed to

the number one women's job who did

not meet the criteria.

He has never

worked within the women's game.

We

had criteria, we searched for people

with international experience and we

drew up a short list, we

exhausted that list, many of them

interested in the role, but not

really willing to be put under the

sort of scrutiny that they thought

the role would be under from the

media. At that point, his name came

up from people I spoke to and I rang

him and asked him if he wasn't

arrested.

Do you think they were

worried about coming to work for an

organisation that handles the matter

with Aluko?

That was not mentioned

to me. I am sure it may have been a

factor.

Phil Neville has had to

apologise for sexist remarks on

Twitter.

The FA confirmed he would

not be punished because the comments

do not reach the threshold for a

charge.

He has apologised and I will

not try and excludes it. He has

apologised. In my experience of the

man and I have spent a lot of time

with him, it is not reflective of

the man I met. During his interview,

he spoke very eloquently about his

passion to help men to women in the

game, something no one else talked

about on the same level with the

thoughtfulness that he had.

They did

so well to get to third in the world

but ultimately that is a bronze

medal and we are aiming for the gold

medal.

What we are determined to do

is by the time this post comes

again, we want to have developed

female coaches in this country with

a passion, the capability and the

confidence to go for the job.

It is

a high-profile name in English

football in terms of his career and

I suppose you can expect there to be

opinions about his new role from

others, but what have you made of

some of the comments?

I can

understand most of the comments,

those who said he is not qualified,

he does not have any managerial

experience or experience in the

women's game, as far as all the

Twitter debate, his historical

tweets, I understand those, if

people take offence, then they have

to be addressed. He has apologised

for that and the FA have dealt with

that and hopefully we can look up

the positives of what he will bring

from now on.

He will have to have a

backroom staff, how important is

that going to be for him with the

lack of experience in managing

women?

I

women?

I do not think he will be

under any illusions that he could do

this job but that the perfect

backroom staff and he is likely to

bring in people like Casey Stoney, I

think she is going to join the new

men tour programme which is to do

that, increase the number of female

coaches qualified in the game and

hopefully in four years' time we

will be able to have a group of

female coaches qualified and ready

to go on and lead the women's

national team and maybe some other

people who will help advise Phil

Neville and the staff to complement

the things he does not have a lot of

experience with.

How much of an

eye-opener has this been for the FA

in terms of trying to get a new

England head coach and people

England head coach and people like

Emma Hayes not necessarily jumping

to take that role.

They made it

difficult with their handling of

Mark Samson and the Eni Aluko

situation. They found that. The

facts are, Phil Neville was

appointed because there were no

candidates left in the running

initially for the first job. The FA

had to think outside the box, look

at the job description and the

criteria and they brought Phil

Neville in and his experience at

Manchester United, his international

experience and his professionalism

would just bring a whole new level

to this team.

He has got some start,

to play some of the best countries

in the world and he will be under

scrutiny.

Absolutely, he is under no

illusion. He will relish playing the

top four teams in the world, being

in the tournament, he will love that

level of pressure and he will be...

No stone unturned in his

preparation. For his personal

preparation as well as the team, he

will love it.

We will look forward

to that, but there has been plenty

of English talent on show here today

as Chelsea welcome Everton.

It is a great touch from Carney. A

beautiful gold. What a finish by

Aluko!

David six -- Davis!

Spence

and it is 1-0.

Into the net. Bright

takes the acclaim. It is brilliant.

Pinpointed by Carney.

Pinpointed by Carney.

On a week were

a former Everton captain became

manager of England women, a current

Everton captain is looking to cause

an upset against a Chelsea side

hoping to keep pace with Manchester

City. Emma Hayes makes six changes

from the side that lost to City in

the Continental cup semi-finals. As

makes her second debut for the club

after rejoining and there is a first

start for Andersson at left-back.

Everton make two changes from the

side that lost to Bristol City.

Green and Chance are in. Hines who

joined from Arsenal this week is on

the bench.

the bench. Asante, the first time we

have seen her on the ball, it is her

second debut. Cuthbert, a little bit

of space. Durack behind it, she did

not get the power on it in the end,

but nice move from Chelsea. Chelsea

on top in the early stages but

Everton will be encouraged. How

organise they have been so far and

Everton win a free kick. Kelly and

Turner standing over the ball. It

will be Kelly who goes for goal and

Lindahl make sure, Everton's top

scorer this season, serving goals in

11 appearances. A nice click and

Everton could be in here. Offside.

Good movement, good vision by

Everton, they left plenty of players

up there.

Asante was almost deceived by that

and concedes the penalty.

Sweetman-Kirk, is she bundled over

by Asante? It is right on the edge

of the area. The decision goes the

way of Everton. So Sweetman-Kirk,

with the opportunity to give Everton

the lead against Chelsea. And she

hits the post! Lindahl goes the

wrong way but it does not matter for

the Chelsea goalkeeper,

Sweetman-Kirk hits the post and

Everton's chance has gone.

Everton's chance has gone. Can

Chelsea make Everton pay at the

other end? Cuthbert's ball

deflected. Turned

deflected. Turned in by Durack.

Fizzing effort by Blundell.

Sweetman-Kirk wins a free kick to

get a set piece. Kelly sandwiched in

between Andersson and Chapman,

Sweetman-Kirk going down under the

challenge from Chapman. Turner will

swing it in again as the sun comes

out and almost met at the far post,

a good opening for Everton and just

unable to get onto it was Finnigan.

She could have connected with that,

that could surely have been her

first goal for the club. Kelly

coming forward for Everton, swings

it in, almost met at the far post by

Sweetman-Kirk, Chelsea are living

dangerously as we approach our time.

Wonderful ball in again from Kelly

and Sweetman-Kirk was inches away.

You would love to be a fly on the

wall to hear what Emma Hayes said to

them at half-time but it is Everton

who have come out of the blocks

flying. Kelly puts the ball in,

Sweetman-Kirk with an acrobatic

effort, it takes a neck off Blundell

and that took the sting out of it

for Lindahl. She has tried to make

up for that penalty miss in some

style. Carney. It is a way. Picked

up by Dunn. Spence might get there.

That is good work from Chelsea. Dunn

tiptoeing around the Everton

defence. Durack standing up well.

Here is Carney, that is a great save

by Durack. The deflection could have

deceived the Everton goalkeeper but

she was alive to the danger. Carney

coming close. Kirby. Chapman.

Blundell. Ji. Chelsea having to be

patient. Kirby lasered off to Ji.

Nice work, well saved by Durack and

it is that movement that is

improving with the substitutions

that Emma Hayes has made, the linkup

play and Chelsea starting to tap on

the door.

the door. Nice touch by Dunn darting

into the area, trying to get it

through to her team-mate. Lasered

off and into the roof of the net.

And Chelsea have a late, late goal!

That breaks the hearts of Everton.

Andersson with her first goal for

the club. She may well have got the

winner here. 1-0 to Chelsea.

Well intercepted by Blundell and

there is the full-time whistle.

Chelsea victorious. But Everton will

certainly feel they were worth at

least a point.

We have come here with a clear way

of playing and we have done well

this season against, against the

likes of Man City and Arsenal and

now Chelsea and we felt the way we

play can really unnerve and unsettle

some of the teams that I've

mentioned and we did that again

today. I don't think anybody would

save I was out of order to say we

should have been two or three up at

half-time. It is taking your

opportunities when they arise.

Football will run for another

thousand years and it will always be

the two ends of the pitch, keeping

the opposition out and taking your

chances when they come and it was

not just the penalty, two or three

good opportunities from set pieces

and the keeper has made a couple of

saves. That is where Chelsea and

those teams at the top might have

that edge because they are ruthless

when the chances come but I'm

delighted with the girls and where

the club is progressing. I could not

be happier with a defeat if you are

at the -- ever happy with one!

It

was Chelsea who took all three

points and I'm joined now by Emma

Hayes, the Chelsea manager. You got

there in the end, was it a

satisfying afternoon other than the

result?

Everybody knows Everton had

a tremendous game and played really

well but I have never won a league

or a major champion to that --

without a game like that. If

everybody thinks it's about

dominating and playing pretty

football and having the most

chances, they are delusional because

winning leagues is about being awful

at times, not at your best, getting

a bit of luck and finding the

solution late on. I have to credit

my team because they did well second

half after we should have been down

at half-time.

You had to go to the

bench, a huge game coming up on

Thursday. Were you hoping not to

have to use the reinforcements?

I

think that would discredit Everton

because the quality of the teams is

improving every week, I can't coach

for Thursday, after coach for today

but I have also had players on

international duty and some needed

more recovery but I pick the team.

At half-time I had to reflect on

that but I think I made the right

changes.

Everton pressed you hide

throughout the game, Reading and

Arsenal similarly, do you think

that'll be the same for the rest of

the season -- oppressed you hike up.

I do think it has been a factor in

the game. It has been about games of

both halves but we had to solve the

high press and that is part of the

territory but we have players who

can come up with the winners. I

don't know how we got a clean sheet

today but we have come away with it

and I'll take it.

You mentioned

international duty, the new England

head coach has been announced, Phil

Neville, what are your thoughts on

his appointment and the criticism he

has faced already?

I am

has faced already?

I am excited to

sitting down with him and talking

about players and the selection

process. I never felt that was clear

and I hope going for that players

are selected on form every week

because that can make an even bigger

difference for England to win a

major championship.

And if it's

something that still interest you in

the future?

To be honest, I'm a

young coach and still developing at

club level and I enjoyed the game

every week and the events every

week. It is not something that

interested me at this point in time.

I had burning ambitions to do well

in the Champions League as well and

while my heart is still in that, my

focus is in that.

We wish you all

the best for the rest of the season

and well done today. It was 1-0 to

Chelsea but let's see Howard league

leaders might City got on when they

travel to Sunderland. Jeanette Craxi

Jeanette Kwakye round up the

Nick Cushing Butt team had been in

outstanding form this season

Nick Cushing Butt team had been in

outstanding form this season with 16

wins in 16 games and with Chelsea

picking up three victory was needed

to keep their buffer at the top.

They should have been up after 18

minutes but Izzy Christiansen could

not finish. Goals have been easy to

come by for this City team, 53

before this match and after a neat

piece of build-up, Nikita Parris was

on hand to prod home from the header

despite appeals for offside from

Sunderland. Having finished, Parris

return the favour to Isobel

Christiansen and this time at that

needed no help from any of the

team-mates. -- her

. Sunderland have severed from heavy

defeats this season and although

they won their last league game, any

chance of a comeback were put out

after Parris scored again as she

doubled their tally for the

afternoon, a victory worth

celebrating for the skipper.

When

things like this happen against your

hometown club and you make 100

appearances for Man City, I could

never have dreamt of it coming here

at the club have been fantastic for

me and I've had some amazing

memories with them and hopefully

many more.

Phil Neville was out and about this

weekend watching Liverpool who put

eight past Yeovil Town in the last

game and Beth England almost gave

them the perfect start in this one

but failed to connect with Jess

Clarke's cross. Liverpool knew that

to keep the pressure on Chelsea and

Manchester City nothing less than a

win would suffice but with Willie

Kirk's team hovering outside the

relegation zone it had ideas of

their own. Julie Biesmans came close

to giving them the lead but Sophie

came -- Siobhan Chamberlain make a

great save. Bristol City would have

been content with 0-0 at half-time

but Liverpool came out with a point

to prove and Beth England was left

with a simple tap in to give them

the lead. England, a junior

international, has yet to earn eight

senior cap but he has been in great

form this season and this stunning

effort took up to nine goals for the

season from six in the last two

games. England for England perhaps?

From Liverpool to Reading for the

new England manager, Phil Neville

was also at Adams Park as the teams

. The closest either team came in

the first up was this effort, Sari

van Veenendaal beating Melissa

Fletcher to be loose ball. The first

up lacked many chances but the

second half came to life. Vivianne

Miedema with a neat ball but the

Dutch international saw her Efford

well saved by Grace Moloney. Arsenal

were looking to get their first

league win over Joe Montemurro

having lost last time out and van

Veenendahl was on hand to deny

Brooke Chaplen from giving Reading

the lead. With both keepers

impressing, Beth Mead was the latest

player to be denied, Grace Moloney

doing her best impression of van

Veenendahl. Reading had one last

chance with time earning out. Lauren

Bruton looked set to finish but an

excellent last ditch block denied

her.

To bounce back after the result

two weeks ago, to bounce back and

take a point off a top team, it

shows the progress we are showing,

that is two top teams in the league

we have taken points from.

The first

half was in the balance I thought

and second half we created chances

and they had a couple. A difficult

place to come and to come and play

your brand of football but all

credit to Reading, they made it hard

for us.

Yeovil boss Jamie Sherwood announced

earlier in the week that he would

step down at the end of the season.

With his team struggling at the

bottom of the leak they nearly fell

behind in the opening minute but

Charlie Wellings was unlucky to see

her shortcoming of the post.

Birmingham were looking for

back-to-back league wins for the

first time this season and after

Carter's cross was deemed to be

handled in the box they were given a

perfect opportunity to take the

lead. Aoife Mannion scored from the

spot in their previous game and she

finished this one to make it 1-0. It

always looked like it was going to

be a hard ask for Yeovil and so it

proved with Birmingham fighting

chance of easy to come by and Allan

White should have doubled their lead

but Megan Walsh was impressive in

denying her -- Ellen White. Yeovil

did not make things easy for

themselves. Somehow Walsh got away

the shop from Lucy Quinn. On the

stroke of half-time Birmingham set

piece found its way through to

Meaghan Sargeant, the defender

getting the final touch to double

their lead. The misery for Yeovil

was soon complete, Jess Carter's

cross found its way to White and it

finished 3-0 to Birmingham and Jamie

Shermer was adamant his decision to

leave was the right one. -- Jimmy

Sherwood.

It is very difficult. My

future will not be on the touchline

but it gives us the time to write

the -- find the right person. It

gives us time to recruit. We will

get it right and the next person

will be the right person.

It is

Manchester City who lead the way

with their perfect record, two

points ahead of Chelsea who they

face on Thursday. Liverpool lead the

chasing pack. At the bottom it is

still Yeovil Town looking for their

first points of the season. You can

set goal alert for all ten teams on

the BBC sport app.

set goal alert for all ten teams on

the BBC sport app. A tough day for

Yeovil and it has ended a tough week

for them with the announcement that

the manager and captain will be

leaving at the end of the season.

How do you assess where they are as

a club. They had the highs of

getting into WSL1 but this week has

been a low.

Gaining professional

status for next season, it does not

show what you are paying people and

I can only assume that their captain

is a qualified teacher and might be

able to have a better career

financially off the pitch and

similarly the manager. As far as

what they are shown on the pitch,

teams around them like Everton and

Bristol, they are at their rivals at

the moment, they have pushed on and

made some good signings. Bristol

City with the likes of Lauren Hemp,

they are scoring goals and they have

an edge about them in their game

whereas unfortunately for Yeovil I

feel they are standing still

somewhat. Another win for Manchester

City and keep on going.

Nikita

Parris was instrumental again.

With

her and Jill Scott and their new

signings, they are prolific and

today was another example.

The

action does not finish this week,

there is a huge game to come on

Thursday night here at Kingsmeadow,

the top two head to head and it's

going to beat title deciding? Can we

say that yet?

Possibly a bit early.

How vital for Chelsea that they

don't come away with nothing?

Emma

Hayes will be desperate to win it to

get them back in it, two points

behind Manchester City who are

flying high. They have so much going

for them. Emma Hayes, they slipped

up against Reading and that put them

back. Thursday will be massive and I

am short Phil Neville will be

looking at all of the England squad

pretty much in that game. It'll be

exciting, the first encounter

between these two in the league.

Ultimately it could be a title

decider, that if the pressure Emma

Hayes would like to put on her

player to see if they rise to it.

That'll be a huge game on Thursday

and I'm sure Phil Neville will be

here to watch all of the English

talent on show but he is not the

only former Premier League star who

has made the transition into the

women's game. Sue Smith went to

former pub Doncaster to meet Neil

Redfearn who has been tasked with

taking Doncaster back to where they

think they belong.

Formed in 1969, Doncaster Rovers

Belles dominated women's football in

England in the late 80s and early

90s, winning two league titles and

six women's FA Cups.

six women's FA Cups.

The great Cas

Walker.

Recent seasons have not been

kind for the Belles, controversially

relegated from WSL1 in 2013 before

even kicking a ball and they did not

apply for WSL1 this time round

because financial criteria were

beyond their means. But they have

created something of a concession by

appointing a former Premier League

footballer and Championship manager

who lives and breathes football as

their new boss.

Let's go.

What has

kept you in the game for so long?

I

think the love of the game really.

And obviously the coaching side is

working with people and players and

trying to make them better. And

obviously getting a buzz from that.

But it's a great game, and it's all

I've ever known, something I have

done since I was 16. I'm fortunate

that I'm doing something I love.

Well done.

Uwano at Barnsley as

being a bit of a legend -- you are

known. And top scorer.

I was highest

scoring midfield in the Premier

League at that time, I was

comfortable and confident without

team-mates.

Did you always know you

wanted to be a coach because the

transition can be hard? I knew I did

not want to do it. Did you always

think you wanted to stay in the game

like that?

It's a good question. I

dearly, most players look at it and

think the next best thing to playing

is coaching. Well done.

It is busily not for everyone. There

are the pressures of the management

but the bit I get enjoyment out of

it is seen players develop and

working with young players, seen

those young men go on to make really

good players and getting the benefit

and the enjoyment of seeing them be

successful as a big thing.

What do

you actually bring as a coach?

A lot

of experience. I have had a lot of

good and bad experience, which you

always learn from and how it takes

to get where you need to get. Every

coach is looking for something

different and that blank canvas to

go and work with and you are looking

for players that have got this open

and inquisitive mind to get better

and I think that is what you find in

women's football. You have to

maximise your time, you're looking

at two hours on Tuesday and on a

Thursday and a couple of hours on a

Friday morning and we try to stay as

full-time as we can, to the

benefit of the girls and the team

and to be fair at Doncaster, we do

things a little bit differently, we

have not got a huge investor or the

backing of the club, so we have to

develop on our own.

Even if you win,

how do you keep yourself motivated

and the players.

We have to make

sure we are ready for the time that

we can. We have got a strong

structure in place and all that we

are missing, it is not a secret, it

is the finances to go with it. But

once we get to that point where we

can, I think we can hit the ground

running. Long-term, we want to be in

the First Division that is something

to aim at.

Emma Hayes said that for

women's football to go to the next

level, they have delayed with the

Premier League, do you think that

has to happen?

The circumstances of

everyone are different and our

circumstances are what they are at

the moment we are trying to make

sure that we are ready to go when we

can. Our club has a strong history

but the game is moving on and we

have to try and catch up. What do

you think

you think of the of Phil Neville it

was good. Ideally from me, it would

have been a woman. It would be good

to get female coaches involved,

there are some outstanding young

coaches involved. I think he will

bring, he understands the FA being a

national player himself, he

understands what is needed at a

national level, how it works and he

will understand the long breaks in

between getting their squads

together and tournaments. If you are

brought up at Manchester United, you

will have good habits.

They will be

good to

pass across. Neil Redford made it

back to back wins with a 4-1 win

over Brighton this afternoon and

that keeps Doncaster Belles top of

WSL two.

What a start for him?

Brighton will be in WSL one next

season. He is a quality coach. The

girls who have been working under

him have already said, the

expectations in training have been

on another level and it is showing

on the pitch.

It is brilliant.

His

pass, working with young players,

how vital could there be for

Doncaster, if you look down the line

to a position where they might be

ready to come into WSL one?

He has

got so much experience with younger

players, at the moment Doncaster

Belles are having to work with the

majority of younger players because

they cannot buy older and more

experienced players, but what it

says about them as a club, they are

not ready now financially, but when

they are ready from a

behind-the-scenes point of view, his

team is certainly on the pitch and

ready to make that move. Great to

see her looking so fit. She has been

out for over three years with some

terrible injuries. Three surgeries

and a baby. She still has ambitions

to play for England and I would not

put a pastor.

That is about it from

us, thank you to Rachel for joining

me but there is plenty more sport to

come on the BBC. Commentary on

Liverpool's trip to Huddersfield

will be live on Tuesday evening. And

you will be able to see highlights

of that matter the rest of the

Premier League midweek fixture is on

Match of the Day on Wednesday night

at 10:45pm. Kings Meadow did not

exactly serve up a classic but three

vital points for Chelsea as they

chase down the leaders.