QPR’S ASIAN DEPUTY COACH MAKES HISTORY
MANISHA TAILOR MBE has become the first woman and first person of south Asian heritage to be promoted to an assistant head of coaching role at Queens Park Rangers (QPR).
In her new role as assistant head of coaching (U9-U16), Tailor will assist Chris Ramsey, who has helped mentor her in recent times.
The 40-year-old has been the Lead Foundation Phase coach at the West London club for the last three years. She revealed she was motivated by former England star Rachel Yankey to take her coaching badges.
“As a woman – and a South Asian woman in particular – I do think this is extraordinary and it wouldn’t have been possible without the mentoring and guidance I’ve received from Chris,” said Tailor about her new role.
“He gave me the platform to show what I could become. This shows it is possible for people from diverse backgrounds to progress to jobs like these, but you need mentoring, guidance and opportunity.”
She added that she will help disseminate and enforce the Academy coaching philosophy laid down by Ramsey when she works with the under-9s to under-16s.
She said: “Chris sets the programmes, oversees the coach education and is responsible for helping to get our very best Academy players into the first team. I’ll be on the grass, with the coaches, reinforcing that.”
Tailor hopes that she can be an inspiration for British Asian girls who want to get into the game. She looks back on her own playing journey, which was cut short at the age of nine when she had to turn down a place at Barnet FC’s youth setup as there was no one that could take her to the training sessions.
“That was pretty much that,” Tailor told the BBC. “My mum said ‘Oh, there’s no one to take you on the weekend, how are you going to get to training?’ As a nine-year-old you’re upset for a little while but you get on with life. “It was only later on in life I started to realise, wow, there are actually not many opportunities for girls. “Visibility is really important and I think we have visibility now, but when I was nine, for my mum, there was a real lack of visibility. Had my mum, maybe, seen Asian players or seen other Asian young girls like myself who wanted to play too, would her decision have been different?”