Carla Ward is the current Aston Villa Women’s football team manager in the Women’s Super League and she has been incredibly successful this season having picked up numerous manager of the month awards. Ward has established herself as a top manager in the women’s side of the game but previously she also had a long playing career across numerous clubs.
Introducing the Barclays WSL award winners for January 🙌
🏆 Manager of the Month- Carla Ward, Aston Villa
Article continues below this advertisement 🏆 Player of the Month- Gabby George, Everton
Congrats to both… and happy birthday Gabby! 🥳👏 pic.twitter.com/ACUoZl3v2N
— GiveMeSportW (@GiveMeSportW) February 2, 2023
Managerial career
Ward’s managerial credentials were on show throughout her career as she was the captain for many of the clubs she spent time with, and always led by example on the pitch. Ward took charge of Villa in May 2021 after narrowly avoiding relegation with city rivals Birmingham City.
Birmingham were relegated in the following season and the two have been deprived of league meetings in the men’s and women’s side of the game in recent years.
Villa have been the city’s stronger performing team on both sides of the game in recent years, the Paddy Power site offers the men’s team at 11/10 to secure a top-half finish this season. Paddy’s bet calculator can be used to understand exactly how much could be won from a specific bet, it includes all the bet types and conditions that you can find across the Paddy Power site.
For example, a £5 bet on Villa’s men’s team to finish in the top half at odds of 11/10 would return £10.50 including the return of your stake. Villa and Birmingham have a long-standing historical rivalry seen at 90min and Unai Emery and Ward are both helping to ensure Villa stay on top of their rivals in the men’s and women’s game.
Similarly to the Europa League-winning coach, Ward has made her Villa team a stable mid-team outfit in the English top-flight.
While Ward’s Villa tenure has been successful so far she first made a name for herself in the managerial world during her time at Sheffield United. She initially was given a player/assistant manager role in the latter parts of her playing career but soon took the reigns of the club after Dan O’Hearne resigned from the role in early 2018.
Ward achieved victory in 34 of the 58 games she managed the Blades in and even more historically she was a key part of the club’s successful application to join the FA Women’s Championship which shaped the club’s history allowing them to receive more funding and compete on a higher level.
Playing days
Ward spent her youth career with Torquay United Ladies having grown up in the town after being born on the Isle of Wight. She went on to play for a variety of English clubs as well as enjoying a brief stint in Spain with Sporting Plaza de Argel.
Ward was well sought after throughout the English game as she was an ideal player for any squad; her tenacity and ability to cover every blade of grass made her the perfect box-to-box midfielder.
In 2009 at the beginning of her prime days, she was chased by many WSL clubs and eventually a deal was agreed upon with Doncaster Rovers Belles for her signature, but she eventually decided to turn down the move. Ward opted to stay in the lower division with her current club at the time Lincoln Ladies.
Leading @AVWFCOfficial to important points!@cwardy7 is the #BarclaysWSL Manager of the Month 👏 pic.twitter.com/5nwcajIwhR
— Barclays Women’s Super League (@BarclaysWSL) February 2, 2023
Overall Ward was an admirable player during her playing days and her managerial career surely has a lengthy amount of time to run. Ward’s traits of loyalty and a huge passion for the teams she played for possibly held her back in her playing days.
Those traits could make her an unbelievable coach and that is already being hinted at with several ‘manager of the month’ accolades she has received at AVFC so far.
