Aston Villa boss Carla Ward insisted she wouldn’t simply “chuck money” on the activity of attempting to reel within the Women’s Super League’s large weapons after signing a contract extension.
The 39-year-old, who guided Villa to a ninth-place end final season – after becoming a member of from derby rivals Birmingham in May 2021 – will stay on the helm till the tip of the 2023-24 marketing campaign after the membership took up an choice to retain her companies.
The Midlanders at the moment sit in seventh place with Ward decided to stick with the long-term technique with which she arrived because the chasing pack try to shut the hole on high 4 Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Saturday’s opponents Manchester City.
Asked how large that hole was, Ward mentioned: “Big. My opinion is that people think if you chuck money at it, you can go and join in the top four.
“It’s not the right way of thinking because it doesn’t happen overnight, you can see that with the top sides.
“It’s really important that we continue to build in the way that we can – sustainably as well – and as long as each year we’re continuing to improve, we’re continuing to close gaps, there’s no reason why further down the line, you can’t then knock on the door of the top four.
“But like I said, it’s really important that you don’t just chuck a number at it and try to do it in the wrong way.
“You have to build carefully, you have to build structurally and I think we’re starting to do that.”
Villa introduced that they had prolonged Ward’s keep on Thursday having been impressed with the work she has accomplished to date.
Head of girls’s soccer Lee Billiard mentioned: “This is terrific news for Carla and the club. We have seen significant improvement in the team under her leadership and this contract extension will allow her to continue progressing and building on our strategy to develop the game.”
Ward’s deal with recruiting the appropriate individuals on and off the pitch has proved central to that enchancment and the addition of hugely-experienced England worldwide Jordan Nobbs from Arsenal earlier this month represented one thing of a coup.
Nobbs, who made her debut together with fellow new arrival Lucy Staniforth in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Tottenham, missed the Lionesses’ Euro 2022 marketing campaign by means of harm, however the 30-year-old is decided to pressure her means again into Sarina Wiegman’s plans.
You actually could not do it within the WSL to the Premier League as a result of the ladies’s recreation would crash very, in a short time.
Aston Villa boss Carla Ward
Ward mentioned: “After her first game, I’ll be honest, I got straight on the phone to Sarina and I said, ‘You’ve got to be watching our games currently because we’ve got players massively performing and they’re doing well’.”
Meanwhile, Ward welcomed Wednesday’s announcement by the Football Association of Wales that it had reached an equal pay settlement with its males’s and ladies’s groups, however warned extending such an association to the WSL within the present local weather was impractical.
She added: “You certainly couldn’t do it in the WSL to the Premier League because the women’s game would crash very, very quickly, so it’s making sure it is relative to each organisation, each football club.”
