Katie Rowson "excited" to help Chesterfield FC Women "push onto next phase"

The newly appointed head of coaching spoke to the Derbyshire Times about the mood at the club and her role going forward.

“I have seen as an outsider over the last 12 months the growth the club has gone through and that was something that interested me into the club,” she said.

“Now that I have spent lots of time talking to and working with the committee, the mood around the club is really about that excitement to push on to the next phase. It is all about the development of the club as a whole.”

The former Women’s Super League manager arrives at the Spireites with a wealth of experience at Doncaster Rovers Belles and Watford Ladies but she insists her role at Chesterfield is not a step down.

She said: “It’s a very similar role and I know people will look at the tiers and will see it is further down but the role is more about doing things behind the scenes and getting the foundations right so the coaches can do their very best.

“The role is overseeing the player pathway in regards to the technical programme and aligning that, then also with the coaches so in a sense apart from the direct coaching of a first team in the league it’s still a very similar role to what I did with Doncaster Belles. It’s similar to what I stared to at Watford and also what I did abroad as well.”

Rowson’s appointment came after the club named Gabi Salomon as general manager earlier on this year.

She added: “To get that (development) you have to put some time in with the coaching staff to help develop them, then ultimately it’s about the player development so the mood in the club is excitement but it is excitement to a cause, that the point of it is to develop the club and the players with it.”