Manchester FA is delighted to announce the signing of Leigh Gell who will be joining the team this month!

Leigh will be joining the team as the Women's Football Recreational Officer to support the delivery of the Legacy Projects across Manchester and Trafford as host cities for the UEFA Women's EURO 2022 as well as leading on the development of recreational football for women. 

We took the time to catch up with Leigh ahead of her start date to find out a little bit more:

Importantly, what club do you support?

"Arsenal!"

What roles have you done previously before joining Manchester FA?

"I have held the position of Community Engagement Lead (South) for the FA National Youth Council as well as holding the position of Vice Chair of the Essex County FA Youth Council".

What attracted you to the role at Manchester FA?

"If I had to create a job description for myself at this stage in my life it would have contained the majority that was written in the Manchester FA recruitment pack so it felt the perfect role for me. I was initially attracted to it as I saw it as a new challenge due to it being a geographical area I was unfamiliar with, this encouraged me to reach out to my network within football and carry out my own research on the football landscape in Manchester. The more I researched, the more I knew I wanted to be a part of Our Game in Manchester and add to the forward thinking strategies currently in place at the County FA. The area of the game I’ve always been interested in, is Women & Girls’ so there was not a chance I was going to miss out on the opportunity to work solely on that area of the game as well as lead within a major tournament like the Euro’s".

What are you looking forward to bringing to the position?

"I am most excited to bring my passion and energy to the position as well as my desire to positively influence female lives using football as a tool. I will be able to bring a diverse insight into strategic decisions to improve the recreational offer available for women and I look forward to working with the community further. I look forward to working with the local community to introduce new recreational offer’s for females that may look different to the traditional footballing offer to unite the City and get more female’s active".

Is there anything else you would like to say to our fantastic football community?

"You’ll be able to tell I’m from Essex within seconds of me speaking, so please bare with me and if I smile and nod it’s because I don’t understand what you’ve said. Once we’ve got over the North/South rivalry I’m sure we’ll be able to work perfectly to grow football participation and provide meaningful opportunities for women to develop".

Everyone at Manchester FA welcomes Leigh to the team and wish her all the best with the new role. We will be sharing contact details with our football network over the coming week so watch this space!