Workington Town Women’s FC, who will take on the name next season after a switch from Workington Reds Ladies, have named the coaches to head their development team.
Nigel Thornthwaite and Kevin Young will be in charge of the new venture, starting with immediate effect.
They hosted their first training session today, aimed at players that are in the school years 11 and 12.
Restrictions on the age at which players can train with adults has been a factor in this first selection group but other groups will be targeted in what will be a phased approach to assembling a team to compete in the Lancashire County League starting later this summer.
The pair bring different skill sets to the venture, but share the desire to positively influence the development of female footballers that will represent the Town Women’s club.
Nigel has been actively coaching at this level for the past four years. He is a well respected member of the Allerdale Junior Football Club having served as a secretary for ten years and speaks with great passion about his view of the direction of the game for the coming years.
Kevin’s involvement in football over recent years has been one with a whistle in one hand and a red and yellow card in the other. As well as officiating in the North West Women’s Regional Football League, Lancashire County League, he has also spent all of last summer refereeing in the Andrea Buggy Cumberland Summer League, both of which has given him first-hand experience of female football which offers a great grounding.
His background in football also includes roles as a player, and various appointments as a coach ranging from Youth, Reserve, First Team and Veterans levels.
On their appointments, the first team manager, Paul Mackenzie said: “Taking the step of launching a Development Team is a hugely important in the club’s future. So it was vitally important that we had the right people to lead it.
“Having got to know Nigel and Kev more over the past two months, I can honestly say the team is in very good hands and the desire they display to make this successful is incredibly impressive.
“They complement each other with the different skills they bring and their enthusiastic personalities will set a superb platform for this new initiative to grow from.”
On their future recruitment plans, Nigel said: “We were keen to focus our initial attention on the players that are around 16/17 years of age and are looking for a route in to adult football.
“The next stage will see us look towards the players that are active in adult football now. We will be advertising similar sessions over the next few months with the Open aged footballers being our target audience. From there we will combine both groups together when the players are all 16 years of age or older.”
Kev added: “I will make sure that I see as many summer league games as I can and I’ll be looking to identify players that would help us to deliver our aims and encouraging them to join us.”
