Shrewsbury Town’s Head of Community Jamie Edwards is excited about what the future holds for Shrewsbury Town’s Ladies side.
Alex Owens has today been appointed as Ladies Team Manager, whilst Pete Wilson will work alongside him as technical director.
“Obviously Sean Evans left at the end of the season after doing a great job of getting the Ladies team set-up, so we’ve had a massive restructure in terms of women’s and girls’ football”, Jamie told ShrewsWeb.
“Internally, we already had Pete Wilson who was running the Women’s and Girls’ section, the Premier League Girls project and the RTC (Regional Talent Club) that we now have here at Shrewsbury Town.
“We also recently took on the Assistant Manager of the Ladies Team, Alex Owens, as a community coach in Primary schools.
“So, we’ve decided to put Pete Wilson in as the technical director for the Ladies team, which is great for the pathway because he will lead girls through from the ‘Wildcats’ at 8 years old all the way into the Ladies team.
“And then Alex Owens is going to be Head Coach for the Ladies team as well, so that’s a bit of continuity for the girls in that it’s a face that they already know and it’s not a complete and utter change.
“Alex is a UEFA B Licenced Coach as well, which is part of the criteria that we wanted for the role and their enthusiasm for Ladies football is fantastic and they are really motivated to increase the push that we’ve got here to have the best Ladies team in Shropshire.”
Town now have a clear pathway for girls from the age of eight all the way into the Ladies first-team and Jamie is looking forward to seeing that develop.
“Ladies football was the fastest growing sport in the country, so for us to be involved in it is massive”, said Jamie.
“Not just for participation, but also for increasing the number of people that come and watch the first-team play.
“It’s another team for people to come and support and for season ticket holders to get involved in. Again commercially it is great as well to have females involved in the football club.
“We want the ladies to have the same opportunity as the men. They should have a pathway into an elite performance pathway and then a ladies team at the top of it.
“It was pointless us having an RTC and then just stopping at 18. So, to have that pathway all the way through it great and hopefully we can progress through some of the leagues and see Shrewsbury Town Ladies on the TV sooner rather than later.”