When the Women’s Super League (WSL) kicks off later this week, one-third of clubs will have new managers in charge. There has been a lot of focus on incoming Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor but Aston Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion and Leicester City all have new faces of their own in the dugout.
These three teams are part of the ‘aspirational class’ in the league. All have been promoted within the past six years but, despite investment, have been unable to secure consistent top-half finishes. Last season, Villa finished seventh, Brighton ninth and Leicester 10th.
These clubs will hope that their new managers can help them push on. But who are they and what can we expect from them?
The Australian given a visa reference by Postecoglou
In an office at Melbourne City, Dario Vidosic has a Brighton pendant hanging up. The 37-year-old Australian began watching the East Sussex club when Roberto De Zerbi joined as manager.
“He’s someone I followed when he was at Shakhtar (Donetsk) and Sassuolo,” explains Vidosic, speaking at the WSL media day.
“When he came to Brighton, the Premier League was much more accessible to watch. I really enjoyed watching the games when I could, when they weren’t at 2am. I had a jersey, my son had a jersey. It’s weird how it works.”
Fast forward a year, and Vidosic will be attempting to achieve the club’s stated ambition of becoming a Champions League team. The former attacking midfielder played for 14 different clubs all across the world, from Switzerland to India.
This will be his third season as a head coach, having taken over from his father Rado at Melbourne City in 2022. They finished third in his first year, before coming top last year, although in the A-League Women play-off system, they lost the Grand Final to Sydney FC.
Vidosic cites Pep Guardiola as his main influence and his style is heavily possession-based. Melbourne City, who are part of the City Football Group (CFG) umbrella, completed 2,269 more passes than any other team in their league last season.
“We want to dominate,” he said. “We want to play an attacking brand of football where we get the ball back as quickly as possible when we don’t have it. Sometimes we’ll be a little more patient, sometimes we can have moments where we’ll go if the time is right.
“It’s been a lot of learning (for the team) in the first four weeks, and there’s still plenty more to come. The only bump is the acclimation of their bodies. It’s been a little more intense with a few different actions that they maybe wouldn’t have done in the past.
“It’s the tip of the iceberg at the minute. We’ll start to dive into more detail once we’ve got the basics right.”
Vidosic was coached by Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou at both youth and senior level for Australia. When it came to references for his visa application, that is who he turned to.
“He was on holiday, so for him to take time out to send a reference letter, I’ll be forever thankful,” he added. “He’s a fantastic guy. He’s flying the flag for Australian coaches, and he always wants to help. If there’s a chance, I’d love to go and say thank you in person.”
Dario Vidosic, left, and Ange Postecoglou, centre, pictured in 2014 during their time together with the Australia national team (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
The workaholic with a track record for spotting talent
“I was at the office on my day off — and they’re not used to that, apparently. Someone was cleaning the office and said, ‘What are you doing here?’”
When Amandine Miquel was manager of Stade de Reims, she was a one-woman band, so it might take some adjustment to life at Leicester. The 40-year-old spent seven seasons at the French club, winning promotion and re-establishing them in the top flight. She left following her best finish of fourth last year.
“I like it so far, it’s less work!” says Miquel, speaking at the WSL media day. “I’m more focused on football and less on extra things that I used to have to do.
“I love watching foreign leagues; leagues that no one watches. Any league that is a bit unknown is good because that’s where you have an advantage on spotting the next best players.”
Miquel has a pedigree when it comes to scouting. She brought Melchie Dumornay to France having spotted her at the Under-20 World Cup, a tournament she is keeping an eye on. Manchester United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce is another who made her first steps in professional football under Miquel and went on to become her captain. Only one of Leicester’s summer signings is over the age of 23. Miquel has made developing young players her speciality.
Her style of play is direct, with her team wanting to transition as quickly as possible.
“The faster you go towards goal, the better. You don’t need to keep the ball forever. We will try to be as offensive as we can.
“We are going to be using all the space. It’s about bringing the opponent somewhere and then going in the opposite direction. It can be bringing them outside and then going inside, or bringing them inside and then going outside.
“What we focus on mostly is the roles of the wingers, who have to be fast and able to finish alone. We really try to reach the goal with speed. I think that makes a big difference in any league. If you’ve got powerful, fast players, half the job is done.”
There is one type of football that Miquel does not obsess over though: men’s.
“I don’t have time for that,” she said. “There are already enough women’s games to watch. I can’t lose minutes of my life watching men’s games. I did go to the first Leicester men’s game. I made an effort because it is my team now. So I went to the first Premier League game against Tottenham, which was a good game.
“But if I can, I avoid men’s football.”
De Pauw, a member of the ‘Bald Dutch Coaches Union’
Arjan Veurink, Erik ten Hag, Arne Slot… Robert de Pauw is happy to reel off the other bald Dutchmen who are currently managing in England.
“We’re quite a large group now!” he laughs, also speaking at the WSL media day. “I joked already in an interview that I am a member of the ‘Bald Dutch Coaches Union’.”
Robert de Pauw has replaced Carla Ward at Villa, one of the WSL’s most prominent and respected managers (Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)
It is a niche group to be part of but one De Pauw is relishing the challenge facing him at Aston Villa.
Having only played semi-professionally, he was told his options as a coach might be limited. But by 2019, he was leading the Netherlands’ Under-17 women’s side to the final of the European Championship. From there, he moved to Twente, where he won the Dutch league before heading to Bayer Leverkusen, finishing fifth in 2022-23 and sixth last season.
“Xabi (Alonso) came in (to manager Leverkusen men’s team in) the middle of the season (in 2022-23) when the former coach was fired. They had a counter-attacking coach with Seoane (Gerardo) then Xabi came and it was more possession-based, more like me. They did crazy good, only losing one game all season. I’ve learned a lot from him and his staff.”
Both Vidosic and Miquel are taking over teams that were being run by interim managers. But De Pauw has a different challenge: stepping into the shoes of the much-loved Carla Ward.
“I think what the club did well is they looked at what Carla built and they looked at what my structure and philosophy is, and if it has connections on certain levels. I think this is the case.
“There will be shifts in detail but the philosophy comes not only from me, but also the club.”
De Pauw likes his team to play a possession-based style but with an emphasis on freedom in the attacking areas.
“I like to have the ball and I like my players to express themselves, to play with a certain amount of freedom within the structures they create.
“If you play tiki-taka just to keep the ball and don’t create chances, I won’t like it. There will be some players that will be more responsible for creating structure and there will be players who have the freedom to be more intuitive and more creative.
“Dutch coaches can sometimes be a little naive in my opinion. We all want to play the beautiful game but it can be quite open. I am not one of them, I am quite realistic.”
Aston Villa and De Pauw have focused over the summer on bringing the average age of the team down, as well as diversifying it.
“If you look at the data, we were the oldest team in the league,” he said. “I think you need older players in a team but you also need an engine, and younger players can provide the dynamism in the team.
“The team was also very British but now we are getting other cultures, which is good to get different perspectives on the game, and on the playing style within the group. That makes it more dynamic and more creative.”
Signings such as Brazil international Gabi Nunes — who joined for a club-record fee of £250,000 (€300,000, $328000) from Levante — as well as new players from Spain, the Netherlands and Canada will help with that. The addition of young English talent such as midfielder Missy Bo Kearns and winger Katie Robinson leaves the squad in a much stronger place. But De Pauw is not getting ahead of himself.
“We were seventh last season, fifth the year before. We want to be in the top six. Lots of teams are investing so there’s a lot of competition, but we want to be in the top six and we’ll aim for that. If that goes well, we can maybe look a little bit further. But let’s start with that.”
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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