New Wrexham head coach Jenny Sugarman is thrilled about the challenge and the potential in front of her – but that doesn’t mean she’s going to be comfortable in front of the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ cameras.
The documentary series covering Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s ownership of the north Wales club has been a huge global hit as the men’s team have secured successive promotions.
And the women’s team have enjoyed some cameo roles – which looks set to continue in the months ahead.
But Sugarman is happy to leave the on-camera work to the Hollywood superstars.
“That’s just not who I am,” she told SheKicks.net. “I understand there’s a side of this job – whatever club you’re at as a head coach, trying to be at the top end of the game – that there is a certain level of media exposure.
“I’ve got experience in the football side of it, doing the post-match interviews or doing the radio. I’m experienced from my career in presenting and talking to people, whether that’s in front of a classroom of students, whether that’s delivering a workshop for coaches, a webinar, a conference. The TV is definitely something I’m not experienced in! If other people want to take the limelight and spotlight, they can.”
Jenny Sugarman: It’s a new football landscape for me
Sugarman masterminded a fine start to Wrexham’s season, with a 5-2 win at last season’s runners-up Briton Ferry Llansawel.
She is a vastly experienced coach, with previous roles including head of academy at Leicester City, head coach at West Bromwich Albion, and assistant manager at Aston Villa.
This is the first time she is venturing across the border to Wales to manage in the Adran Premier. Although it is the top flight, media coverage at the moment is not comparable to the women’s game in England, which means that scouting and pre-match prep presents some challenges – but ones Sugarman is well equipped to face. Indeed, her recruitment has been impressive, particularly when it comes to bringing in players from England with plenty of tier two and three experience.
“The women’s game is a smaller network, and you meet a lot of people,” she explains.
“I went to my first league meeting last weekend and I’ve had lots of information from our staff internally, from our analyst, from Gemma [Owen, the Wrexham general manager], about how the league works, how the teams in it work.
“One of the exciting things is we’ve got six new managers out of eight in the league this year, so lots of stuff they told me may look very different when we actually go and meet and face those teams.
“It’s going to be certainly a new football landscape for me that I’m excited about because I have spent so long in the English system, from tier four up to WSL. It’s actually nice to come across new players, new coaches, new clubs, new styles of play, new supporters.”
Jenny Sugarman: We know what we need to do
It’s also a new league system. The Adran Premier operates with two phases: Phase 1 with all eight teams playing each other twice, and then Phase 2, where the league splits in half, with the top four playing for the title, and the bottom four effectively playing to avoid relegation. Naturally, Sugarman hopes her team can challenge for the league this season.
“We’ve looked at what it takes to do that. We’ve looked at what it takes to be successful in the league and the results that you need to get and where you need to be positioned to be competitive.
“Yes, we want to make sure that that we’re competitive at the top end of the table. We know that there’s a history and Cardiff have been champions for a long time and they’ve been setting the standards, so we know what we might need to do to make sure that we can be competitive.
“The club’s first season in the Adran [Premier] was really successful, finishing third. They came up from the [Adran] North and they really hit the ground running. Last year they perhaps didn’t start as well as they would have liked and because that is so short a period [in Phase 1], if you don’t start well, it can put you under a lot of pressure.
“But the second half of the season form was outstanding and that’s something that we need to carry through because that was competitive top two form from the club at the end of last season.
“We know that we’ve got a really good squad. We’re really happy with where we’re at with that.”
