Aston Villa head coach Carla Ward is aiming for further steady progress at the club after signing her new deal.
The 39-year-old signed a new contract with the club until summer 2024 earlier today. Ward is in her second season with The Villans after joining the club in summer 2021.
Ward guided Aston Villa to a best-ever finish of ninth position in the Barclays Women’s Super League last season while the Midlands club are currently seventh in this season’s competition. After signing on with the club for the next 18 months, Ward said that she wants to continue the steady progress.
“I hope that we continue the good progress that we have made, we’ve made some really good progress,” Ward said when speaking in an Aston Villa press conference.
“We set out a very clear strategy when I came in of how we wanted to get where we wanted to get to, the pieces of the puzzle that I thought we were missing and how we go after that and the importance of getting in the right people, not just on the pitch but off the pitch. That’s been really important.
“We get offered players all of the time, quality players as well but it is really important that we get the right people, the right fit for everything that we want to do. That’s probably one of the biggest things, getting the right people. We want to continue to do that now and make sure that we don’t shy away from exactly what we set out to do because it has worked. Yes, it is steady progress but we want to continue that steady progress and hopefully, kick on.”
With Aston Villa having signed the likes of Rachel Daly and Jordan Nobbs in the last couple of transfer windows, fans can be forgiven for dreaming of their side gatecrashing the Barclays Women’s Super League’s top four in the near future. Ward went on to say that reaching those heights will be a challenge and it is not just about throwing money at the project.
She said “It’s a big challenge. My opinion is that people think that if you throw money at it, you can go and join in the top four but it’s not the right way of thinking because it doesn’t happen overnight with the top sides.
“It is really important that we continue to build in the way that we can, sustainably as well. As long as each year, we are continuing to improve and continuing to close gaps, there’s no reason why you can’t be knocking on the door of the top four further down the line. It is really important that you don’t just throw a number at it and try and do it in the wrong way, I think you have to build carefully and structurally and we are starting to do that.”
Aston Villa are back in action on Saturday lunchtime when they travel to The Academy Stadium to face Manchester City in the Barclays Women’s Super League.