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Female Game Shapers - Clinton Lancaster

Clinton began his coaching career at Plymouth Argyle FC, working with the boys and girl’s youth development.

As the #RoadtoWEuros22 comes evermore closer, and with 50 days to go until the Women’s Euros 2022, London FA remain committed to spotlighting those individuals involved in shaping and growing the female game in London. 
 
These include coaches and referees, club officials, elite players, schools leads, and male allies to the game in London.
 
This instalment shares the story of male ally Clinton Lancaster. Clinton is a UEFA A coach with over 15 years’ experience in both the male and female game. Clinton has worked at clubs including Chelsea, Crystal Palace and most notably Watford FC, were as the Women’s First Team coach he guided them to promotion into the FA Women’s Championship. 

Clinton Lancaster

Clinton’s Story

Clinton began his coaching career at Plymouth Argyle FC, working with the boys and girl’s youth development. From there, Clinton went onto Chelsea where he coached the elite girls training centres and within the boy’s development centres. After Chelsea, he moved to Crystal Palace where he joined as Head Coach of their Women's U23's. After a successful first season with the U23's, Clinton was then promoted as the Women’s First Team Assistant Manager. In his first season with the senior women’s side, they won the National League South East, which included going the entire season unbeaten. On top of that, the team also won the National League South East and the Surrey County Cup, adding to the already impressive silverware collection. 
 
During his time at Crystal Palace, Clinton was approached by Watford FC, who were competing the WSL 2 at the time, to manage their WSL U23s team. Clinton decided to make the move and helped progress many of the U23's at Watford into the first team. Similarly to Crystal Palace, this led Clinton to be moved up to become Assistant Manager with the Women’s First Team, before being announced as the Head Coach in September 2019. Success continued to follow Clinton during his time at Watford as he guided the club to promotion from the National League to the Championship, steering the club to the final of the National League Plate before it was unfortunately interrupted due to the pandemic.
 
After leaving Watford at the end of 2021, Clinton now works at Aldershot Town as the U15s Boy’s Academy Lead Coach and is also now working towards an LMA Diploma in Football Management. 

Clinton Lancaster

Football makes a difference 
 
For Clinton, football has been the backbone of everything he has done, providing him with a promising career as a professional football coach in an environment he is passionate about, with love for football at all levels. 
 
As an accessory to the success of several London club’s female pathway, Clinton exemplifies the exponential growth of the women’s game across the UK and Europe. Having male allies such as Clinton in the female game is essential to continually growth, from academy all the way to the first team, providing an environment which allows these players to thrive. 
 
Niamh Coyle, London FA’s Football Development Officer (Clubs & Leagues), had this to say about Clinton, “Clinton's work at Watford FC has really progressed the Women's game in London and the surrounding counties. Through Clinton, the club developed a robust recruitment and development network for the Women and Girls game.''

Clinton Lancaster

#LetGirlsPlay
 
Could you inspire the next generation of National League, Championship or WSL players who could be coached by Female Game Shapers like Clinton? This July, to celebrate the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, we’re aiming to get more women and girls playing and loving our national game.
 
We’re encouraging clubs across the country to deliver football taster sessions for women or girls throughout the month of July. All you need to do is create your sessions on our Events Platform so that they’re discoverable through the Find Football tool. 
 
From England Women’s tickets for the first 50 clubs to register, to free resources to support session delivery - get yourself involved and join us in our ambition to #LetGirlsPlay this summer! 
 
Sign up for sessions here!

If you have any questions, please contact our Women & Girls lead at Development@londonfa.com

letgirlsplay

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