THE CHANGING SEASONS – ENGLAND VIEW

At the FA Media Briefing about the planned changes for WSL, a group of journalists had a sit down with England Head Coach Mark Sampson to hear his thoughts on the proposed new format of the league as it moves to a winter season in Autumn 2017, following a shortened ‘Spring Series’ ahead of EURO 2017…

What do these changes from 2017 onwards, as England manager, mean for you? How do they help your cause?

MS: We have made the changes because we have got to make some bold calls to try and help the game get to the next level. One of the things I’ve been really pleased with, since I’ve been on board, is we’ve been willing to make these courageous calls whether that be a selection call, a ways of working call, or in this case a massive change to the women’s game structurally.

Looking at it in general, the positives far outweigh the negatives. Certainly from an England point of view, the objective is to make sure we do as well as we can and give ourselves a chance to win major tournaments and with that in mind, we need the best possible players we can get, with the best possible support they can get and with a fixture list that allows them to develop and grow. The most important thing now for our players moving forward is that they are going to get just about the right amount of game time, but most importantly, preparation time as well.

When you play a lot of games in a short space of time the pattern is alright for playing matches but not for player development. At the moment, our players might play on the Sunday, they then will recover and won’t get the chance to develop or grow, they just play again on the Thursday and repeat, repeat, repeat doing the same and then there’s a big gap. We’re looking to gain more consistent periods in terms of games. Ideally, once every seven days during which they can recover, they can try and grow and get better as players and then they can prepare for the next game. Look at the knock on effects of that:  I think we’ll end up with better players, and looking at major championship preparation we want players that are fit, we want them fresh but we also want them match tough and there’s a balance there between fresh and match tough.

I felt at the World Cup that we were fresh, we probably had too many injuries but we also probably weren’t as match tough as we need to be. We needed a few more games to get ourselves ready to compete at that level. So hopefully now, with the spring season in relation to 2017 and the way the seasons will be moving forward, we’ll get players who are fit – and I know there’s a bit of luck involved in that, but it will give them every chance to be fit – they will be fresh and absolutely match tough. With all of those factors combined, it gives us the best chance to be a more competitive team.

Do you feel there has been a slight step back, in order to make this step forward, when you look at the scheduling post Canada?

MS: I’ve been involved in WSL since it started and the scheduling has always been a challenge. I can remember at Bristol fighting for a title and playing five games in twelve days. So it’s always been a challenge with U-17, U-19 tournaments, international windows, so many things that need to be considered but we’re in a position now where I think we need to draw a line in the sand, we need to make these changes and give our players the best possible chance, give our clubs the best possible chance and give the national team the best possible chance. Hopefully, in the short/medium term we can get that programming right, to give the players that foundation and platform to grow and then we will also start to see the commercial benefits and all of the other bits that come with consistent fixture lists, home and away games and regular matches on a similar day. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later. I believe that this is the right decision to make and hopefully it will be a big game changer for us.

        "I believe that this is the right decision to make
          and hopefully it will be a big game changer for us."

Does your experience at Bristol inform your views on this and what has been the level of your input into the changes?

MS: Absolutely it does. All of my experiences in the game have helped, not just in the women’s game but in the men’s game as well. Looking at what worked and what didn’t and now having the experience of going to a tournament, seeing U-20s at a World Cup before and watching our U-19s (unfortunately not qualifying for a Euro Finals),  you weigh up all of that and think what you need to do to make the next step. You have to make the next step. We’re doing ok but we want to try and be the best. If you want to be the best you’ve got to look at your competitive niche and we have studied the Americans, the Germans, the French, and looked at what they do. I’m not sure anyone’s got the answer and you’ve always got to look at context and culture. For example, I’m pretty sure our players wouldn’t be happy with residency but I’m also not sure that the German model works for us. So we’ve got to find what can give us our competitive edge for this programme.

All of my experience has come to the fore and I’m very fortunate that over the past few months, I’ve got a very good relationship with the clubs and head coaches, we have regular dialogue – I’m aware of who is playing well, who is not, who maybe needs a kick up the backside and who needs a pat on the back and also the frustrations we’ve all got because we all want to make sure this league grows. We had a fantastic couple of meetings where we all sat around the table and put our views out there and decided we need to make a change. There may still be some grumbling because clearly what’s right for club A may not be right for Club B or for England but we’ve got to come to a consensus and agree and compromise, so that we can be in a better place than we have been in the last couple of years.

Will the shrunken Spring Series season put extra pressure on players to be ‘in form’, to impress you and stake a claim to be a part of your thinking for the Euros?

MS: Well yes, there is always pressure on the players. They know that every game is being watched and once you’re an England player you’re always an England player and your attitude will be assessed whether you’re training with England or playing for your club. They’ll probably have the same number of games as if the season had stayed the same, just in a slightly different format.

So there’s ample opportunity for every single player to force their way into the reckoning but the ones that have got the jerseys at the moment are doing ok, so it’ll take a lot of hard work. But everyone knows that the conditions for selection are clear. They’ve really got to keep performing, stay on their game and I’m confident we’ll have a big group to pick from next summer, which is where we want to be. So we’ve really got to make sure that every player that gets that jersey feels like they’ve earned it and they go out and play and be confident for their country.

“…got to make sure that every player that gets that jersey feels like they’ve earned it and they go out and play and be confident for their country.”
 

Do you feel fortunate as a national team coach that you have a league setup that wants to work so hard to make England better?

MS: It does help but there’re still some big challenges there. Everyone’s got their own agenda, their own objectives and it’s about getting around a table, about discussions and understanding everyone’s point of view and coming to an agreement that will not please everyone but that we feel is in the best interest of the women’s game. That’s always our responsibility as a governing body. From my point of view, my interest is in England winning. So those dialogues have helped, having those discussions and relationships has really helped and it’s been difficult to get to this point but hopefully now we can all sing off the same hymn sheet and we can make the best of this decision and that’s the challenge.

It’s not about arguing whether it’s the right one or the wrong one, it’s about what we now do to make it the right one. So now everyone in the game’s got to jump on this bandwagon and make the best of what we feel is the right call, to hopefully create a better future for the women’s game, not just for me but for the whole game.
 

         "It’s not about arguing whether it’s the right decision or the wrong one,
          it’s about what we now do to make it the right one."

The FIFA windows are built around a winter season, so those type of blocks do fall into awkward times for us. I genuinely feel that when you look at other nations and you compare us, we can’t do the same so, we’re all looking for the competitive edge, and I think we’ve found something that suits our players, suits our football culture as a country. The biggest weapon for English football is the 92 Football League clubs system and we’ve got to make sure we are embracing the men’s side of the game and making sure we can use all of the advantage we can get from that side of the game to grow the women’s game.

The examples are out there. Look at our top clubs now, they’ve made sure that they’re really working closely with the men’s sections and that’s really helped in terms of lending coaches, S&C coaches, support staff, commercially really supportive. If we can bring it all into line, it can go to the next level.

This NEWS story gives you the background and FAQs about the switch and read our chats with Kelly Simmons HERE and FA Head of Women’s Competitions Katie Brazier HERE.

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