Chairman's Column 17.12.2022

With a project like the one we have in place for our women's section while we have a clear idea of what we are looking for in terms of structure, playing style and coaching profile it is never a straight line that we are plotting.

Occasionally you need a change of direction when you feel that is what is called for which is why we have decided to appoint Ashley Pead, until recently an assistant coach with the Women's Reds, as Head Coach of the team

Our thanks first of all to Luke Molloy and Liam Clifton for their efforts at the club and they leave us with all of our best wishes to them for the future.

I am convinced that Ashley’s empathy, demeanour and coaching style will help him build on the success we have achieved this season with the Women's Red side and also help him develop even closer links between our two women's sides as well as with those youth sides we have at present and will hopefully have in the future. Hopefully it will help him and everyone else at the club lay even deeper the foundations of our footballing philosophy.

It is important to remember that our women's Red team are currently just two divisions off national football and it is therefore vital that we keep pushing to go further and maintain and increase the cooperation between our two women's sides to ensure we are constantly improving.

He will of course enjoy the support of a hard working, conscientious and dedicated team including certainly for one year at least that of Luis Cesar Sampedro who must almost certainly qualify for the title of one of the most qualified men in grassroots soccer.

In addition to boasting a CV that shows that at the end of 2005-06 season he took Gimnastic of Tarragona up into the first division of the Spanish league where he took charge for 12 games at the top flight, he has also coached more than 500 games in Spain's second tier at such clubs as Valladolid, Tenerife and Deportivo La Coruna.

He is currently in the UK trying to learn as much as he can about the the English game as well as looking to improve his English over the next year or so. We are truly blessed to be able to call upon his wide breadth of coaching knowledge and expertise to help both our our women's sides as well as many of our coaches who can learn so much from him and hopefully by way of recompense we can help him to become fluent in English.

In addition to Ashley and Luis Cesar we also have in place technical secretary, Giacamo Mallamaci overseeing the day to day organisation required, Dean Foster the teams supervisor supporting coaches and team operations, conflicts resolution officer, Sue Griffin and coaches Bradley Smith, Bernat Puig Valls and Pearse Hamilton.