Oxford United announce new head of girls' football

Oxford United Women have announced the appointment of Kerri Coombs as their new head of girls' football.

Coombs joins the club from Lewes FC Women and will oversee the structure of the pathway for the U16s and over into the first team.

Next season the club will have a girls U18 team for the first time.

Speaking to oufc.co.uk, Kerri Coombs said: “I’m really excited to have joined Oxford United.

“I’ve come in as head of girls' football as well as having a small role with the first team to help my understanding of what Sam Rose is looking for from those players and to try and transition our older youth players into that group.

“Just before here, I was at Lewes Football Club in the Championship which is one of the highlights of my career.

“Prior to that, I spent 10 years overseas in the USA, Morocco, and Hong Kong, which again was amazing and the number of people you meet and learn from, I couldn’t be more grateful for those experiences.

“Behind the scenes, this role has involved a lot of strategic planning, not just thinking week to week, or month to month.

“We want to be thinking three to five years ahead, and the big part of that is producing Oxford United players for our first team who want to be there, are part of the culture of the club, and can also perform on the pitch.”

General manager at Oxford United Women, Gemma Sims said: “I’m really looking forward to working with Kerri who will be overseeing our girls' pathway here at Oxford United.

“Kerri’s experience at Lewes FC and her passion for developing both coaches and players is exactly what we need to drive the girls programme forward.

“She arrived at a good time to be heavily involved in the trial process and the decision on how we have restructured the opportunity for players once they turn 16.

“We are very proud of the success of the Development Team over the last few years, it’s been fantastic for both the club and the players.

"Our priority remains to try and develop players capable of playing for our first team and we feel that giving our younger players an earlier exposure to senior football in a more competitive environment will help their overall development.

“To enable us to do that, we are starting to form partnerships with local teams who we believe will be able to provide the challenging experiences needed for our younger players.

“We hope this will help bridge the gap from youth to senior first-team football.”