Ed reflects on his time as Magpies boss so far
Maidenhead United Women: Jackson-Sankey says he has hit the ‘jackpot’ with team
After a busy period of matches, Maidenhead United Women manager Ed Jackson-Sankey was able to have time to reflect over the weekend after the Magpies match with high-flying AFC Bournemouth fell foul of the weather, writes Neil Maskell.
United’s boss was appointed on the eve of the season and, as with any new manager, Jackson-Sankey (right) has started to bring in new blood to the team with eight players making MUWFC debuts already this campaign. The team have only played four matches in the FA Women’s National League this season, two of which have come against the top two sides in the division, so it has been a tough baptism for a new team both on and off the pitch.
In the cup competitions they have performed better and two convincing wins has the Magpies awaiting a Berks & Bucks Cup semi-final in the new year against Abingdon United.
Jackson-Sankey – who has worked in senior football with Aldershot Town, Oxford City, Reading FC and Slough Town as well as with Portsmouth FC Women – has found the experience so far to be a steep learning curve: “A lot of what we’re doing this year stylistically is new to the team and actually deviates away from what has brought the club success previously and it’s been incredibly pleasing to see, not only the buy in and openness from the girls to adding - and I stress adding, not changing - things to their game to help maximise their potential. But also the steps that we’ve taken towards what we expect will end up being our mean level of performance. I’m also absolutely delighted at how quickly we’ve been able to develop the relationships within the group. When a new manager comes in and new players follow, there can always be a fractious period or a period of resistance and I feel very fortunate that that hasn’t really occurred.”
He added: “A lack of pre-season and recruitment pressures have definitely been the biggest challenges. We’re only just reaching the levels of physical readiness, technical sharpness and tactical understanding that we’d have expected after a full pre-season so it’s been tough to navigate the early part of the season in this context, especially when it seems like we’ve had a massive game each weekend. Recruitment has been tough because by September everyone is generally settled at a club for the season so we’ve worked incredibly hard to bring in not just the number of players that we have but also the quality. At this point I’m delighted with the squad that we’ve assembled.”
Contrary to previous seasons,
United now have a backroom staff to complement the manager and to assist the players.
“To be honest, I feel I’ve hit the jackpot with the back room team,” Jackson-Sankey explained. “Niall (Irwin) needs a statue built for him outside York Road for keeping the team alive and the group together over the summer. Fred (Stevens) being a GK specialist has been essential and were already reaping the rewards of his work with Gemma (Harvey). Andy (Smith) as our S&C lead has done wonders in helping the girls navigate the start of the season without having done a pre-season and the experience of Robin (Mallinson) has been invaluable thus far. He’s been a huge asset because of his connections in the game and his experience in supporting the development structure for both players and coaches that we’re putting in place behind the scenes.”
The next big test for the Magpies is this Sunday (November 13) at bottom side AFC St Austell.