London City Lionesses’ interim head coach Nikita Runnacles will take charge of the club for the final time when they welcome Coventry United to Princes Park this afternoon.
Runnacles has occupied the role since Melissa Phillips left for Angel City in January. She has helped London City Lionesses to maintain a promotion push, although Bristol City have become the eventual Barclays Women’s Championship title-winners.
When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time ahead of The Pride’s final game of the season against Coventry United, Runnacles confirmed that she will revert back to coaching next season with London City Lionesses set to appoint a new head coach over the summer.
“From the off, there have been very open conversations between myself and the board,” Runnacles said. “I don’t see myself in the head coach position going forward. I like the goalkeeping side of it, catching and kicking, so I see myself moving back into that role.
“It’s exciting for the club to be bringing in a new head coach moving forward and having someone to lead the ship after a couple of years under Melissa (Phillips). We’ve done the best job that we could as a group of staff this year. We will see who comes in next season to steer the ship.”
While London City Lionesses failed to win promotion to the Barclays Women’s Super League, Runnacles agreed that there are lots of positives to take away from this season including highest-ever points and goals tallies.
She said “The ultimate aim was to get that promotion spot and we will never hide from that. To do that, you have to progress year-by-year. Do we feel like we’ve done that this year? Absolutely.
“For us, it was just the moments of inconsistency with not being clinical in front of goal and errors around the back which reduced our points tally.
“Has there been progression? Absolutely. We’ve had some real positive outcomes this season despite not getting the top result that we wanted.”
London City Lionesses’ final Barclays Women’s Championship fixture of the season against Coventry United kicks-off at 2pm. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.
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