“I think this club has the ability to change the face of women’s football.” That is a bold claim but, coming from someone with the playing career and influence of the proponent, it feels very believable.

Less than a year ago the England defender Casey Stoney was pulling on a Liverpool shirt having joined the club from Arsenal the previous December. Now, she is sitting in Manchester United’s impressive Carrington training ground preparing to lead their long-awaited women’s team into their maiden season. It seems a quick turnaround and, for Stoney, not one she could have imagined: “Not in my wildest dreams, to be honest,” she smiles.

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It has been a whirlwind. Following Phil Neville’s appointment as England manager Stoney was approached and, after hanging up her boots in February, she joined the national team set-up as his assistant. However, when the United recruitment process opened, she knew she had to apply: “I had to put my name in the frame and give it a go because I knew if I had turned down the opportunity, then it might not have come again and there is no better. There’s no bigger club to work for so to be head coach is probably the proudest moment of my career.”

Employing someone to lead such a high-profile side into the new second tier (Women’s Championship) months after she retired from playing may seem a bold decision but Stoney’s appointment is anything but: “You go into any job and you’re going to have self-doubt. Of course you are but I back myself. I’ve been coaching 17 years, I’ve coached full-time, it’s easy to forget we’ve only been professional for four or five years.”

In fact the former Lioness’s record off the pitch speaks for itself: “I’ve worked full-time at the Beckham Academy, I’ve worked with under-18 boys’ teams, been head coach at lots of Centre of Excellence teams, been a player-manager with no coaching staff and no infrastructure. That was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, at 25.”

I want my players to be happy​,​ but I want them to be challenged, so I’ll​ and put them in uncomfortable positions

With 130 caps Stoney is used to the senior England set-up but joining Phil Neville’s staff, albeit briefly, gave her a different look at managing at the top – “I worked with the best players in the country, therefore my standards and attention to detail had to go up” – and, when she approached him about the opening at his former stamping ground, Neville was always going to be on board. “He loves this football club; his son’s here now as well. He knew it was the right opportunity for me and was very supportive,” says Stoney.

The 36-year-old has had a rich playing career, working with a number of well-respected coaches and their influence runs through her own coaching style in different ways. “Hope Powell is a fantastic coach and she demanded an awful lot in terms of standards on the pitch. Keith Boanas, too, who I was with at Charlton, was also a fantastic coach and really helped me at a time when no one else believed in me.

“That care aspect I’ve taken a lot from him. Under the shirt is a person; you’ve got to get to know them, what their aspirations are, what support network they have? He was a big influence on me. And obviously working with Phil, I took away the bits he brings from the men’s game. I’ve learned an awful lot about the slight differences, the standards, the detail within a session, the rhythm when you’re on the pitch.”

Her own style is changing all the time but she has already established what she expects: “I’m not a dictator, that’s one thing I say to the players. I like them to have freedom but within a framework. They need to know the guidelines and rules. I’m also big on balance. They need to have a life outside football. I want my players to be happy but I want them to be challenged, so I will stretch them and put them in uncomfortable positions because I think that’s how you develop them as people too. I expect high standards because that’s how I was as a player and that’s who I am as a coach.”

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Having been involved in women’s football for almost 25 years Stoney has seen many clubs and many changes within the game. United joining the party is something she is convinced will transform women’s football. “I can honestly sit here and tell you that I’ve never been at a club where the level of detail and standards are so high,” she says.

“They want the team to be successful and they want the players to have the best opportunity to be able to develop.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Casey Stoney: ‘There’s no pressure from the club. United have said you don’t have to go up.’ Photograph: Christopher Thomond/Guardian

The FA’s restructure of women’s football has divided opinion. However, Stoney is supportive of the changes and what they mean in the long term: “United got in because their bid was good, very good. They didn’t get in at the expense of anyone else, other teams didn’t get in because their bids weren’t good enough. Why would you not want Man United to have a women’s team? With the fanbase, the global reach, the way the club do things and the potential to grow the game? It is a no-brainer.”



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Stoney is delighted to have been given the freedom to build from scratch: “The club have trusted me to know the women’s game better than they know the women’s game. I know every player in this league, every player in the league below, internationally I know a lot of players too and I like to think I’ve got a good relationship with a lot of them. It means players are signing for me, as well as all signing for the club.”

Rumours of the group that make up her newly assembled squad are flying and, with the announcement due on Friday, the wait is nearly over. Stoney travelled widely to meet her targets and knew from the off what type of players she wanted: “I’ve gone for character, talent and winning behaviours. They’re the three things that drove my recruitment.”

She has picked a squad that reflects the “exciting and entertaining” way she wants to play: “We’ve gone young, we’ve gone exciting, we’ve gone entertaining. I’m more than aware that we’re bringing 21 strangers together and that in itself is a massive challenge especially in the first year but I’m really excited about the squad I’m working with.”

With pre-season two days in, the fun has started and, with no pressure from the club for immediate results, Stoney is bound only by her own ambitions: “There’s no pressure from the club. United have said you don’t have to go up. The club want to build slowly. There’s no timeline. Our legacy, and I said this to the players, is to ‘make sure my two little girls grow up wanting to be you’.”