I’ll re-run the talent parade
MANAGER Mick Mulhern takes charge of his new club, Sheffield FC, today with ambitions that go way beyond a potential thirdround FA Cup victory over Leicester City.
Mulhern is planning to make Women’s Super League newcomers Sheffield into the force that his previous club Sunderland became in his 15 years at the helm.
And he will go about the task in the same way that proved such a success with the Black Cats – by developing, rather than importing, players.
Conveyor
As he led his old team from the Northern Division via the Premier League to the Super League, Mulhern produced a conveyor belt of talent that benefitted not only the Wearside club but also the England team.
No fewer than six current England internationals were developed and managed by 48year-old Mulhern – and a seventh is surely set to follow.
The Manchester City quartet of Steph Houghton, Jill Scott, Lucy Bronze and Demi Stokes all began their careers with Sunderland, as did Notts County’s Carly Telford and Arsenal’s Jordan Nobbs.
Mulhern’s Magnificent Seven will almost certainly be completed by young Black Cats striker Beth Mead, who has already been in a senior England squad and looks set to make her debut during 2016.
The manager, who had to quit the Wearsiders in November 2013 due to work commitments in the police force but was able to return to football with Sheffield 12 months later, explained: “My ethos has always been ‘grow your own’.
“At Sunderland, it began in a sense because it wasn’t easy to get players from outside the North East – but it was easy to lose them.
“We lost 14 players after doing well in our first Premier League season, some of them going to other clubs and some on college scholarships.
“At that point, I took on the Centre of Excellence director’s role, as well as managing the senior team. That’s when we started to bring through the likes of Houghton, Scott and Nobbs, and that’s what our ongoing success was built on.
“I’ll be working on exactly the same principles at Sheffield. One of the first things I did here was look at the Centre of Excellence setup, and soon had one or two of the youngsters training with the senior players.
“I’ve already brought Hannah Cain and Rheema Lord-Mears – both in their mid-teens – into the first-team squad and, hopefully, more will follow.
“I’ve also signed players from other clubs to strengthen our first team core, and it’s certainly easier to bring players to Sheffield than to Sunderland because of the location – but long-term it will still be that ‘grow your
own’ philosophy.”
Impressive
While Sunderland continue to prosper in the Super League’s top flight under the management of Carlton Fairweather, who took over last year after Mulhern had led them to promotion from WSL2 at