Jenny Sugarman believes Albion Women’s pre-season has been “fantastic” so far and says she is looking forward to the upcoming 2022/23 campaign.
The Head Coach guided her Baggies side to an eighth-placed finish in the FA Women’s National League North last term, as well as an eye-catching run to the Women’s FA Cup last-16.
And Sugarman has high hopes for the new season on the pitch, combined with an excitement by the progress being made off the field at the club.
“Behind the scenes it’s been fantastic,” she said. “It’s been incredibly busy because there’s so much happening.
“There’s a real ambition from the club to get the women’s team integrated across every department. What you’re seeing is huge buy-in from the people who work at this club, who want us to be successful and do well.
“Not only will you see some more profile, but you’ll see more games at The Hawthorns.
“We’ve had a really good first few weeks of pre-season. We’ve played a couple of fixtures and we’ve had the group in training for pitch sessions, gym sessions and other bits and bobs.
“The players have come back in a good place. There are smiles on faces, they’re enjoying themselves and the staff have been working hard to get everything planned and organised.
“The next few weeks will be more of the same. We’ve been training hard. The extra training session is making an impact.
“I’ve also said to the players results in pre-season aren’t important to us. Yes, we want to try and build momentum, but they’re working so hard in the training sessions that we can’t always guarantee they’re in peak performance when they walk out on the pitch for a game.
“That obviously changes during the season, but right now it’s about building developing connections, working on our principles and applying those in-game, and it’s about getting minutes at the right time under their belts.
“As long as we’re enjoying what we do every week and we’re going out there and giving it absolutely everything we’ve got, we’ll see where that takes us.”
Sugarman also spoke about the new signings, players returning to fitness and her plans to continue integrating development players into the squad – and you can watch the full interview above via WBA TV.