Brighton & Hove Albion are a club on a mission. Most are familiar with the journey of the men’s team to the top flight and the building of the Falmer stadium 15 years on from the sale of the Goldstone Ground. They are a club with a feelgood factor. They have been invested in.

Fewer are familiar with the fortunes of the women’s team. But they are also reaping the rewards of investment and the ambition of the board. Having won a promotion play-off into the Women’s Super League Two from the Women’s Premier League Southern Division last season, this summer they announced the recruitment of the former England manager Hope Powell.

It was an announcement that took many by surprise and a big statement of intent. This interview coincided with Powell’s first trip to the Amex Stadium. Brighton had two WSL2 wins when she sat down to talk but her return to the touchline was delayed – work commitments meant she was able to take up the post only before the second match.

When Powell was sacked by the Football Association following a poor Euro 2013 campaign which saw England exit at the group stage with a single point, she was not expecting it. In her autobiography, which was released last year, she claims it was made clear that her tenure wasn’t dependent on results; that it was a bigger project. It may have been player discontent and a frosty demeanour that blighted the end of her time with the national team, but when we sit down the time out has clearly done her good – she is relaxed and clearly content with her return to frontline football.

“I think I reached the stage where I was ready to come back to the grass,” she says. “I had time out of management and then you put feelers out, you see what’s coming up and then I got a call from Brighton. I had a little bit of an idea about the setup, I know the management very well – I worked with some of them at the FA – and it just felt right.

“Doing other stuff with coach education was really good but then I just started to feel that I wanted to be with a team again. I was very fortunate to have the time out but still be in football and now I’ve been able to come back with a club that I’m pretty impressed with.”

I was offered a job in the men’s game in 2012. But I didn’t want it, it was Olympic year

When her 15 years with England came to an end she took a step back from management, working for Uefa, Fifa and the Professional Footballers’ Association. “There were quite a few international offers which I didn’t want to do,” she says. “When I lost my job, a couple of weeks later I was offered another international position but I didn’t want to travel, I just wanted and needed some time out. I think it was the right decision and I’ve come back really refreshed.”

The 50-year-old’s wait to link up with her new team did not stop her having a say over the summer: “I was in very close contact with Amy Merricks [assistant first‑team manager], who has done a fantastic job and I can’t speak highly enough of her. We were in regular contact once it was announced. She’s done all of the work, she knows the club, she knows the culture. There was no choice, I couldn’t start. So I’ve been involved in some of the recruitment and decisions, which is quite important.”

One of the small changes Powell has made concerns the intensity of Brighton’s play. “The speed of play is one of the things I really wanted to increase; we need to up the tempo, do everything so much quicker, because that is what they are going to face going forward,” she says, alluding to the club’s WSL1 ambitions.

The team have got off to a flying start in WSL2. Before their new manager’s arrival, the new signing Uni Umotong, WSL2 top scorer with Oxford United last season, helped them chalk up a 1-0 away win at Aston Villa. Since Powell has officially taken over they fought for a 3-2 home win over Durham, while down to 10 players, and suffered a 4-3 loss against the team Powell spent nine years at as a player, Millwall Lionesses. “For me it’s less about the result and more about the performance because I’m trying to understand the mentality of players,” she says after performances that have certainly given her a lot to work with. “I want to see how much they can offer, what they can do and the things they take on board. Durham was a really good opportunity to see how well we cope with adversity. So I was so pleased. I wasn’t pleased that the player got sent off but it was a really good, interesting opportunity and didn’t they cope well.”

Umotong and her fellow summer signing Danielle Buet – recruited from collapsed Notts County and given the first of her eight England caps by Powell – have proved their worth by scoring two goals each in three games.

Although division has been caused by changes to the Women’s Super League which will make the top flight fully professional and require clubs to meet other criteria, Powell thinks the plans are necessary. “I understand it because a lot of clubs in WSL2 are saying: ‘If we get promoted [as a part-time club] there’s every chance we can’t [be competitive] in WSL1 anyway so what’s the point?’ So I think they’ve had to look at it, revamp it, and try and offer it out to those clubs that can afford to be a WSL1 club, fulfil the criteria and meet the needs of being full-time. I think it’s a sensible decision.”

But, like many others, she points out the importance of not neglecting the lower tiers of the game as the top tiers become the showpieces of women’s league football. “I hope it doesn’t mean that due care and attention isn’t paid to the teams underneath because they are the feeders, but I understand the decision. It’s a sensible move.”

There is no promotion from WSL2 this season as the changes come into force but Powell does not believe her players’ motivation will be affected by that. “No, they want to win the league, the players want to win the league. But I think it’s more than that, they want to prove to themselves, me and the staff, that if and when we go to WSL1 they’re good enough to be there and it’s going to be tough. As much as they want it they’ve got to fulfil a certain level of play in order to be offered that opportunity to be a full‑time professional.”

The opportunities that are ahead of these players now are incredible, the likes of which I could only dream of

With a semi-professional setup many players would be faced with a tough choice should the club bid for WSL1 status. The club’s captain, Vicky Ashton‑Jones, for example, is a police officer in Kent. Yet the manager, who commutes 57 miles door-to-door from London for her new job, is bullish about the choice some players will have to make should they go fully pro. “It’s a nice dilemma. Certainly when I was playing I didn’t have that option; all I wanted to do was be a professional footballer. For me it’s better to have the dilemma than not at all. The opportunities that are ahead of these players now are incredible, the likes of which I could only dream of. It’s going to be difficult for some, we absolutely understand that, but it’s a decision they’re going to have to make.”

Anything that makes the leagues more competitive is a positive in Powell’s books. Talking about the gap between the top of WSL1 and the others she is insistent that you can have all the marketing and communications in the world but it is the product on the pitch that will be key to any substantial growth in the women’s game. “The gap is there because of the money – it makes you able to buy the best players from abroad and provide a professional environment.

“You can buy it or you can build it. You can buy success quite easily. But if you want the whole game to develop you’ve got to look at coaches and you’ve got to look at levels of competition. The competition between the best and the rest has got to be narrowed, and I think internationally that happened. Who would have thought in the summer that Germany would have gotten knocked out of the European Championship? Nobody. I think with WSL1 we have to make sure that, in my opinion, we don’t have too many teams and dilute the talent and competition because it’s the product that sells.”

While the chance to manage a top WSL1 side would clearly be attractive – Powell wavers slightly at the thought of heading up Arsenal, the team she supports – it is the chance to grow that attracted her to Brighton. It is no secret that in her time at the FA she was crucial to putting in place the structures and pathways that have got the national team to where they are today. “I’m a builder, I like to build things. This is great for me, this is what I like to do.”

Ashton-Jones said the players were “buzzing” when Powell was announced. Perhaps an additional benefit to the Brighton job over a WSL1 side is the chance to work with a crop of players who have few, if any, links to Powell’s England camp; it’s a fresh start.

Whenever the question over whether, or when, we will see a woman manage in the Premier League comes up (Arsène Wenger being the latest to say he is “convinced” we will see one soon), Powell’s name is always one of the first to be mentioned.

“No, I don’t see it myself,” she says without hesitation. “I was offered a job in the men’s game in 2012. But I didn’t want it, it was Olympic year” – Powell managed Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics. “I get that there is this huge fascination about a woman going into the men’s game. I get it because so many men are in the women’s game. First and foremost it would be nice to get more women managing in the women’s game. For me, let’s deal with that first. If my name is bandied about I take that as a real compliment but I’m really passionate about women’s football.”

Powell’s return to the forefront of the women’s game has come at a time of flux, not just domestically, but also internationally. While not wanting to comment on the sacking of Mark Sampson or the Eni Aluko allegations, she is quick to sing the praises of the temporary England manager, Mo Marley. Marley was an England team-mate of Powell’s before Powell became manager and it was Powell who suggested Marley hang up her boots and move into coaching. “I hope she does it long-term. I did speak to Mo, she rang me up to tell me and that was nice. I said: ‘Don’t be the interim, take it, do it, it’s a great time.’ Knowing Mo, she’ll make a decision which suits her. She’s a great coach and somebody I’ve worked with for years. I’m really pleased it’s her, and a female.”

The gender of the next England manager has been a hot topic. It’s thought the FA would prefer a woman. Some, including players, have said it should be the best person for the job. Powell is more willing to pin her colours to the mast: “If you’d have asked me this question 20 years ago I’d have said ‘best person’ but now I think it’s really important that there are women role models and that people have someone to aspire to. I think that’s really important.”

For now, Powell’s focus is firmly on success with Brighton and her aims aren’t small. “I want a good application for WSL1, to know the environment and players more, and set a foundation that we can build on for WSL1. We need to get the players into the mindset of competing at a higher level than they are currently at. It’s not just about their attitude, which is great, but also about their ability to get fitter and their ability to improve technically and tactically.”

It seems the club and her ambitions are very much aligned. The women don’t play at the showpiece stadium that borders Lewes. Following a spell at Withdean Stadium, the athletics stadium that was the much-loathed temporary home of the men’s team while the club fought for a home of their own, they now play at Culver Road in Lancing, about half a mile from the Albion’s training facility, and the team are very much part of the Brighton fold.

“We are very integrated,” Powell says. “They’re looking to invest in the future which is fantastic – I’m part of that. I’ve met the owner and I’ve met the board members, I’ve sat down in London and they really want to integrate the women. You know what is nice about Brighton? It is a community club, and that is really important; you can feel that in the building. I like that. It has a nice feel to it. It’s honest, you recognise where you are in the order of things.” And it seems she’s being given the space to build and grow as she did with England: “Everybody feels like they are on the same page. Everybody wants to do well but there’s no pressure. You don’t feel like today you’re here but tomorrow you could be gone. That makes it a nice environment to work in. It just feels right.”

Talking points

• After a spate of high-profile resignations from the Brazil team at the end of September a group of eight former players has written an open letter addressing the difficulties Brazilian women face playing for their country. The players who have quit said they were “exhausted from years of disrespect and lack of support”. They call for greater representation throughout the Brazilian football federation and better pathways for women into governance. Players from a host of other women’s national teams have fallen out with their respective associations, including most recently in Denmark, Norway and Scotland.

Brazi’s women have written an open letter addressing the difficulties they face in playing for their country. Photograph: Natacha Pisarenko/AP

• The NWSL table-toppers North Carolina Courage secured their place in the play-off final with a 1-0 win over Chicago Red Stars at the weekend. They will be joined by Portland Thorns, who saw off Orlando Pride 4-1, making up for their 2016 play-off semi-final exit. The NWSL play-off final takes place in Orlando on Saturday at 9.30pm (GMT).

• Yeovil Town have launched a crowdfunding campaign in an attempt to raise the £350,000 they feel is needed for them to meet the FA’s new WSL1 criteria. The fundraising was launched at a fans’ forum following the side’s 1-0 defeat by Sunderland at the weekend. They state: “Should our application to gain a Tier 1 license be unsuccessful, your pledge will be used to further develop our club, enabling us to become a Tier 1 club at the earliest opportunity.”

• Manchester City’s Pauline Bremer suffered a badly broken leg in their 3-2 win away to Everton. Bremer, who moved to City from Lyon, with Lucy Bronze moving the opposite way, scored the team’s third and her first for the club before being taken off on a stretcher after receiving lengthy treatment on the 3G pitch following a strong challenge from Everton’s Gabby George.

• The Norwegian football association and the country’s players have reached a deal that will see the men and women’s teams receiving the same financial compensation when they play for their country. The move, widely welcomed, will see the men’s side contribute a percentage of their commercial revenue to the women’s team.