Coventry City Ladies' latest signing might not make any headlines on the pitch but is already having a massive impact off it. Former Aston Villa Ladies' Manager and current Head Coach of England Colleges Women's national team, Rob Williams, has joined Paul Cudby's staff as a first team coach. Williams will be working with several familiar faces having already coached four City players who made the 2009 England Colleges squad.
"It makes for a smooth transition coming in and already knowing a fair few of the girls" stated Williams "I know Emily (Hanson) very well having worked closely with her last season". The hard working forward was named England Colleges' player of the year in 2009 after scoring in all five games and has been further rewarded this season after becoming the second City player to be named Captain of the representative squad after Helen Dermody had the honour bestowed upon her in 2008.
"She leads by example and gives no quarter" said Williams of his Captain "She's not the most vocal of players but her work rate and consistently good performances have helped us to some great results". Hanson's form for the Sky Blues has been impressive of late, scoring in each of City's last four games with seven in the past eight overall. "It's a great honour to Captain the England College's team this year" beamed a proud Hanson "I can't wait to get out there, we've got some good fixtures starting this week in Telford vs Australia Schools".
Hanson will be joined in the squad by her City strike partner Robyn James. The pair, both students at Birmingham Metropolitan College, have combined for 17 goals this season, firing the Sky Blues to the top of the Midland Women's Combination League. "We've had a great first half to the season" acknowledged Hanson "I feel like the past few weeks have been my best so far and playing in such a great team gives me confidence that this will be our year'.
Williams concurs "at the start of the season from the outside looking in, it looked like Coventry were clearly the class of the division. Sporting Club Albion have kept the pressure on though and our run in will be very difficult, I'm confident that we can take that final step, there are a lot of girls here that are more than capable of playing at a higher level". City resume their promotion campaign away to Radcliffe Olympic this weekend.