Jay Sadler admits toughness of Portsmouth Women transition
Jay Sadler has detailed just how tough it is to transition to a professional outfit as his Portsmouth Women side have done.
The Blues head coach however acknowledges it is “the best we’ve ever had it” as the club now strive to improve and establish themselves in the Championship.
Sadler, speaking on the Championship Show on YouTube [1 November], is optimistic when he has been there for every step the club have progressed through as they still search for their first point at this level.
“Last year we had great conversations with our owners about going semi-professional, and then the hope was that we could become a competitive team in the Championship,” he said.
“As soon as we went from tier three to tier two, unfortunately the jump is massive. A lot goes on off the pitch that people don’t see – I don’t think my wife was best pleased when we were on a cruise for two weeks and I was always in contact with the club about what we need.
“Brooke [Chaplen] coming in from Reading is huge because she understands it, she knows it, and now we’ve got to that professional standard. We’ve got what we’ve got; this is the best we’ve ever had it, but for what it needs to be, we need to know how we can improve off the pitch as well as on it.”
Portsmouth Women have grown amazingly
Portsmouth deserve a lot of credit for how they have catered for their women’s side and allowed it to flourish.
In terms of development for young girls in the community in their own football upbringing, it is great to have a professional team they can aspire to reach themselves.
The public picture, unfortunately for Sadler, his staff and his charges, is that what the supporters see is results – and the Championship has been a huge awakening compared to the National League last term, from which Pompey won 20 of their 22 league matches.
There have been some gloomy days in among the several defeats so far in 2024-25 but it is all a learning curve, and the one potentially forgiving aspect is that only one side from the 11-team division drops back down come the end of it.
While a pointless Pompey currently occupy that bottom place, their next league fixture [10 November] comes against Sheffield United, one place above on just three points. An opportunity knocks.
In other Portsmouth news, Ian Darke outlines what has to happen in January.
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