From Manchester City Legend to Southport Women's Coach: Willie Donachie Takes Over

Southport FC are delighted to announce that Willie Donachie is the new man in charge of the Women’s Team.

Willie is a vastly experienced coach and is looking forward to bringing his extensive football knowledge to help expand and develop our Women’s Section.

Andy Burgess has been overseeing the appointment and said “Noel has done a fantastic job for many years leading our Women’s Team and when he stepped down we have been determined to build on the foundations and move forward.

This is an exciting appointment for the club and being able to attract someone of Willie’s calibre, who has such a massive reputation in the sport, can only be exciting for everyone at the club. He has been looking to get back into a coaching role since leaving the Accrington Stanley Academy, and when he showed an interest in this position, it was an absolute no-brainer for us. We want to drive the women’s section of the club forward as quickly as possible, and having Willie leading from the front, it will increase our profile and hopefully help accelerate the success”.

The former full backs playing career saw him play in a World Cup finals for Scotland and is considered a Manchester City legend amassing well over 300 appearances for the European giants. In coaching and managing terms, he was assistant manager to Joe Royle the last time Everton’s men won a trophy – the 1995 FA Cup.

More recently, Willie has been the manager of the Monserrat men’s senior national team, whilst spending five seasons in various roles within the Stanley boys academy. He’s also managed in the EFL at Millwall and held many other roles within various different clubs.

Willie will also be helping new manager Jim Bentley with some opposition scouting, something that men’s assistant manager Burgess again was pleased to confirm; “Willie has already been to watch an opponent for us and was in the stands at Spennymoor Town to watch us when we were up there a few weeks ago. A big part of Jim’s working week is focussing on the oppositions strengths and weaknesses and having someone with the credibility and footballing understanding of Willie reporting back, that information will be invaluable. He’s at a game for us this Saturday, before leading the women’s team on Sunday, so he’s dived straight in. He’s also one of the nicest people anyone will ever meet, so we are so lucky to have him in our corner.”

Whilst this will be the Scot’s first position within the women’s game, we are certain he will be a fantastic addition to our football club and we hope everyone joins in giving him a warm welcome and if you can, get down to a women’s game soon to support them and ensure we continue building #OnePort