Forest Green Women are about to get their 2023/24 campaign underway at Bishops Lydeard, and for new Head of Women’s Football Joe Manns, it’s taken a lot of hard work and preparation to get ready for the season. 

Manns was appointed in April, and speaking about what he’s seen from the team in pre-season, he said: “It’s been a very positive one from a coaching point of view, and a good two months working with the players.  

“They’ve shown good energy, enthusiasm and have been really receptive to new ideas that we are trying to implement.” 

Like any pre-season, there have also been things that Manns has had to overcome. 

“It’s had its challenges," he admitted. "We’ve looked at around 50 players, and of course it's not possible to sign 50 players, so it's been difficult to get that squad size down. But we’re really happy with the group we’ve got at the moment.” 

The team achieved a third place finish last season, which is certainly something the side will be looking to build on in this campaign.

“That’s the target, to beat last season's third place finish," Manns said. "In reality, we’d be disappointed if we finished third again, we’re looking to kick on and progress.

“Whether that means winning the league, we’re not really talking about that, it's just a case of trying to improve every week both individually and as a team.” 

“Internally, there has been a lot of change, and I hope it's been positive. Internally, we feel like we’ve got really good coaching staff in terms of myself, Louise Fensome and Sam Russell. We feel very positive about the improvements we're trying to make." 

“With regards to the playing squad, we’ve got some really exciting new additions who have come in and we think they can improve us. We lost some big players last season, such as Louise Fensome who has joined the coaching staff, and Nynka Rucker who has earned a fantastic opportunity to go and study and play in America. That will be a challenge in terms of replacing the impact they had on the pitch, but we’ve also managed to add some very good players as well.”  

With the main goals this season to keep improving as a group, Manns believes there's a long-term project at FGR Women, with the aim of rising up the divisions over a period of time.

He said: “There's no pressure internally from the club in terms of we have to get promoted, but we're obviously all extremely competitive and ambitious and I think every single person in the squad wants to push for promotion.  

“The owner and the club have been incredibly supportive in terms of laying out their long term plans for women's and girls' football at the club, so if its a promotion in the first year then fantastic, but if not it's just a case of keep improving steadily and trying to rise up the leagues over a long term period.”