Hope Powell: ‘I’m a builder, so this is great for me – it is what I like to do’ | Suzanne Wrack


The former England coach, back in management with Brighton after a four-year absence, discusses her ambitions for her new club, why Mark Sampson’s successor should be a woman and why she is backing Mo Marley for that job

Brighton & Hove Albion are a club on a mission. Most are familiar with the journey of the men’s team to the top flight and the building of the Falmer stadium after an almost 15-year exile following the Goldstone Ground’s sale. It’s a club with a feelgood factor. It has been invested in.

Fewer are familiar with the fortunes of the women’s team. But they are also reaping the rewards of investment and the ambition of the board. Having won a promotion play-off into the Women’s Super League Two from the Women’s Premier League Southern Division last season, this summer they announced the recruitment of the former England manager Hope Powell.

Related: Katie Zelem: ‘My agent said Juventus are interested. I just thought: Wow’

I was offered a job in the men’s game in 2012. But I didn’t want it, it was Olympic year

The opportunities that are ahead of these players now are incredible, the likes of which I could only dream of

Related: Norway FA agrees deal to pay male and female international footballers equally

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