Elaine’s background is an interesting one. Born in Dublin, her family moved to London when she was 11, which goes some way to explaining why she’s a lifelong Arsenal fan – that and a healthy dose of family rivalry. She moved to the Plymouth area to join the Royal Navy when she was 18, starting as a dental nurse. She moved up through the ranks to become a chief petty officer and the most senior dental nurse in the South West, working as a practice manager looking after 13 military dental centres across the region. She spent two years on board HMS Illustrious, which posed some unique challenges: “It’s quite interesting, trying to do dentistry when the ship is rocking and rolling because the chairs were all on wheels, so every time the ship rolls, you roll with it!”

 

After 22 years in the Royal Navy, she retired in 2017 to set up her own business as a mortgage broker. Then, this summer, she spotted the post of general manager being advertised: “I was sitting at home having had some surgery on my hand, and I was watching the Euros – I was very fortunate to watch every single match, which was amazing – but I saw the job advert and thought, ‘oh my gosh, this is like my dream job, this is everything I ever wanted to be involved in: it’s football, it’s women’s issues, it’s the barriers, the objections that go with it, it’s building relationships, it’s networking, it’s getting out into the community, spreading the word, all the sort of stuff that I really love to do’.”

 

She very nearly put the advert down because she didn’t meet the requirement of a sporting background: “And then I looked at what the role needed and I thought ‘well, I can do that and yes, I’ve done that, and I can certainly have a go at that’. And I decided I had nothing to lose by going for it.”

 

Elaine brings a wide range of transferable skills to the job, such as leadership, general management, dealing with people, mentoring, business development, and she has a track record of getting things done. Two of the immediate priorities are increasing the spectator base and building relationships with the business community to get funding and sponsorship: “We want to make Argyle Women more professional. We want to run it like a business. But if the infrastructure is not in place, then nothing else can feed into that. So, one of the things we’re doing right now is ensuring that the business side of the football club – whether it’s policy or process or finance – is all in place.

 

“After Christmas, I want to start planning next season, so that it’s organised, less ad hoc, more professional off the pitch, in preparation for the women becoming semi-professional athletes and then eventually fully professional athletes as we progress through the leagues.”

 

While Elaine plays no part in the training or coaching side of things – that’s led by Argyle Women First Team Coach Ryan Perks – she does talk with the players about their experiences. It was from one of these conversations that the team shorts were changed from white to black: “I’m not going to promise that I can fix everything because I know that’s not possible. But that was such a positive step, and the club fully supported it. It went from a request; to a positive response; to a press release in one hour.”

 

Other barriers to playing will take longer to fix: “The biggest issue we’ve got is that the women are not paid. They work full time or study or have family responsibilities, so all their efforts are on a volunteer basis. They are playing totally for the love of the game. Because they have no contract here, they can be poached by bigger clubs, so we get no recompense, and this is happening. So, until we are professional or semi-professional, we don’t have that hook that we can keep our players here. At the men’s clubs, the promising boys have contracts, so the clubs do get recompense.” Argyle are one of 60 new Emerging Talent Centres funded by the FA across England for girls aged 10, 11 and 12. The aim, says Elaine, is to have the offering to keep that emerging talent here.

 

Following the Euros, the government announced a major review of women’s football in England, which is being led by former Lioness Karen Carney. The review is looking at the game at grassroots and elite levels. The full report is due in early 2023. Elaine said: “Nationally, The Football Association (FA) has to make changes to allow us and clubs like us in the lower leagues to grow, because the barriers that we’ve got at the moment are just stopping us at every turn. And if we don’t invest in the lower leagues, how do we develop these potentially great players to get up to the WSL? Because that is the goal, ultimately. I do believe that they are looking at the entire structure – for example, the issue of clubs getting no recompense if their players, who don’t have contracts, are poached. It will be interesting to see the outcome of their report, to see if it says that we need to mirror the men’s league as much as we can, albeit on an entirely different scale.”

 

The other pressing issue is the current home ground at Manadon, Plymouth. Elaine said: “As a community hub, it’s an amazing facility, it’s second to none, but there are no stands and there are no seats. It’s not Football League or FA compliant. The League are giving us some dispensation to play our home games there, but we have to play our FA Cup home ties elsewhere.

 

“So, finding somewhere viable to play is a big priority right now. Otherwise, the spectators are not going to come and watch and the money’s not going to come in. Argyle have been phenomenally supportive, they want me to grow the women’s football club, they want me to show that we can be self-sufficient and self-reliant, and they help us financially. But they want to see us helping ourselves. It’s great that we are playing two games at Home Park this season, and maybe one or two more. That enhances the experience for the spectators and they’re more likely to come back and watch us again.  And the whole mentality of playing at their home stadium just adds to the magic for the players.”

In the first game at Home Park this season, played against Ipswich on 20 November, 2,122 fans turned up – massively up from the usual 200-300 fans who attend games at their current home ground, showing that the support is there.

 

One option being looked at is a ground share with a local team for two or three seasons until a permanent home can be found. Ideally, Elaine would love the women’s team to play their home games at Argyle’s planned new training facility, which would require a covered spectator area.

 

A few weeks into the job, and Elaine admits it’s even bigger than she expected – but she’s relishing the opportunity: “It’s just about getting that foundation block in first – the general manager’s position – and then we can build, and build, and build that staircase that can lead us to the WSL. I feel very positive and super excited to be part of it.” 

 

 

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