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Emma Duffy CARLA WARD WAS enjoying a glass of wine with her mother before the Christmas Markets in Sheffield when the initial approach was made.
Five months later, Ward has landed her first international management job, succeeding Eileen Gleeson at the Ireland helm. She was in talks with another nation at the time of the initial approach, but sees this as “the perfect match”. Ward’s “track record of working with club teams and maximising their potential” stood out, along with how she is “clear in her conviction, but open to other views and ideas”.Ward’s football roots can be traced back to a council estate in Torquay. Born on the Isle of Wight, she moved to the seaside town in Devon during her early childhood and fell in love with the game, playing street football with boys.
“We had a big game in Liverpool on the Sunday and, on the Saturday night, I got a call saying he’d died in a car accident. I didn’t sleep and stupidly drunk all night. The manager said I didn’t have to play but I knew my brother would have been furious if I hadn’t. I got two quick goals and then missed the second half because I fell asleep at half-time.”In 2013, Ward was told she might never play again after an innocuous injury turned serious, and emergency surgery was required on her back.
After resigning, Ward crossed the city and took charge of Aston Villa, the job she is best known for. She oversaw Villa’s ascension in the WSL: they finished ninth in her first season, and an impressive fifth the following year. They also reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and League Cup competitions, while her marquee signing Rachel Daly won the WSL Golden Boot after Ward transformed her to a number nine from full-back.
The most likely change will be a move away from a back three/five. “I don’t think I’ve ever played five at the back, apart from Chelsea and Arsenal away when we parked the bus, so to speak. I’m more of a back four.”
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