For our final Bradford City Women's interview of the week we got the chance to chat to Gareth Davis, who will be stepping into the dugout for his first home league game as part of the official first team coaching staff when Bradford City Women take on Newcastle United. Gareth's appointment to the first team is bound to be a very beneficial one for the team as there is no doubting his passion for the game and optimism for the future of the team. So here is how our conversation with Gareth went...
EOTA : How did you originally get involved in the club?
Gareth : It was very much by chance. When the pandemic started in 2020 due to COVID19 my football coaching stopped just like everything did for everyone. Qasim asked if I would like to get involved with the women's team in January 2021 with the U23's and as I was not doing much, I thought i would be a good time to challenge myself . I had been involved in the women game before but family commitments took over.
EOTA : You have recently stepped up to the 1st team coaching set up, how did that happen?
Gareth : It was all thanks to Qasim stepping away to concentrate on things off field for Bradford City Women. Chris asked me if I would like to step up, it took me a week or so to decide as I had started to see changes with the U23's and would have like to seen it through to the end of the season. The U23's are in great hands though with Stephen, Paul and Manny .On the other hand opportunity like this don't come around every day and I don't want to look back and regret not taking it in years to come.
EOTA : What are you looking forward to now you are part of the 1st team coaching set up?
Gareth : The work I was doing with the U23s has got me this far so I am not going to change much I want to keep my standards high and passion for the game of football rubbing off on people. I want to see the U23's and 1st team putting in great performances week in week out making the club a force to be reckoned within the women's game.
EOTA : You have seen the team from various angles, from the stand, from the dugout and at training, how do you feel the team have progressed since the start of the season?
Gareth : It's been a very strange season for lots of different reasons . It feels to me the season has never really got going. As a player you want a run of games to get stuck into and I don't think we have had that yet. We have a a run of games coming up so I think the next 3/4 league game will be true reflection of the team, the girls have given their all in training since we came back after Christmas. We are not kidding ourselves 8 points is not a good return at this stage of the season. We know we have to give our all to the end of the season. What has gone we can't change but what's to come we can control. It's in our hands.
EOTA : Newcastle are currently sat 2nd in the league so it is bound to be a tough game for the team but how do you think they will fair on the day?
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