Melanie Reay: Achieving the UEFA Pro Licence

“I’m looking forward to seeing the players, to be fair. It probably sounds strange saying that, but when you haven’t seen someone for two months when you’re used to seeing them every day…I’ll be intrigued to see what kind of condition they come back in and hopefully they’re hungry for success.”

Sunderland head coach Melanie Reay has had a busy summer. While her players were on their break, keeping up their fitness and logging their runs courtesy of apps, she was booking in their pre-season friendlies and working on recruitment. Even when she took a few days off, she was still on the phone to her assistant every day, and catching up with her squad on Zoom to make sure they are ready to go.

The start of a new season means a fresh page turns over, and another squad of footballers have a chance to write their names in club and league history.

“It’s always a good chance to reset, and then start with a clean slate and embed values in straight away, especially to the new players as well, and come up with some targets,” says Mel. “The vision and the principles will always remain the same, but every season we go into, it’s exciting!”