Former England and Everton captain and current England U-19/U-20 Women’s Team Manager Mo Marley is expected to be announced by The FA as the interim Head Coach of the senior side, by the end of the week.
She will be a popular and respected choice amongst the players and should be in charge for the friendly in France on 20th October and the two home #FIFAWWC2019 qualifiers in November. England will first face Bosnia & Herzegovina at Banks’s Stadium in Walsall on Friday 24 November (7.05pm KO) and will then play Kazakhstan at Colchester United’s Weston Homes Community Stadium on Tuesday 28 November (7.05pm KO).
Mo, who also managed Everton Ladies (with current Toffees boss Andy Spence and her husband Keith Marley as her assistants) after her retirement as a long-serving player for the club, has worked with the country’s talented youngsters since Hope Powell invited her into the national team coaching set-up in 2002.
Almost all of the current Lionesses senior squad and Next Generation players will have spent time playing under Marley’s tutelage and guidance. Her U-19 sides have been regulars at UEFA Euro Finals, winning the trophy in Belarus in 2009.
As a player, Marley was a great organiser and reader of the game at centre back, and captained England at Euro 2001, their first major tournament since the the World Cup appearance in Sweden in 1995, amassing 41 caps. She also skippered Everton to a league and cup double in 1998 and led the team to FAWPL Cup and FA Women’s Cup successes in 2008 and 2010, respectively (as well as runners-up spots behind Arsenal in the FAWPL, every season from 2006 to 2010).
More to follow when official announcement made…
