Arsenal Women have confirmed the appointment of Kelly Smith to Jonas Eidevall’s coaching staff. Smith was added to the coaching staff for the last two months of last season and will again form part of the coaching staff this season, working mainly with the attackers.
New signing Alessia Russo, like many current players, considers Smith her childhood idol and the chance to work with her was a key consideration in joining the club from Manchester United this summer.
Smith is widely considered the finest British female footballer of all time and spent much of her playing career with the Gunners, who she also supported growing up.
Kelly joins Rene Slegers, who was appointed this summer, setpiece coach Patrik Winqvist and Aaron D’Antino and goalkeeper coach Seb Barton on Eidevall’s immediate staff.
‘I grew up an Arsenal fan and was fortunate enough to play for the club for a number of years, so I’m delighted to be back in this capacity – it’s a dream come true for me to be back in this environment,” said Kelly. “I’m really excited to be working with the attacking players in the squad and I want to draw on my experience both at Arsenal and across the game to contribute to us achieving our goals together.”
Head of Women’s Football Clare Wheatley said: “There are few people who understand what it means to represent Arsenal Women like Kelly Smith, so we are delighted to confirm that she has joined us as assistant coach. She will bring a breadth of experience at the highest level of the women’s game and we believe our players will benefit greatly from her input on the training ground, with Kelly focusing specifically on our attacking group.”
A proper women’s “legend” back in the fold!
I bet she could still put a shift in on the pitch given half a chance!
It cannot do our attacking players any harm at all to have someone with Kelly’s experience on hand in training and behind the scenes.
Imagine thumbing this down …
Maybe Kelly will just give them the finger….
Seems to be someone whose sole purpose in life is to visit this site and give the thumbs down to everything. Hopefully they’ll find a more productive way to spend their time eventually.
Some t**t thumbs everything down. Probably a spud infiltrated us
Fantastic news!
Noice!
I like the Arsenal way of bringing our former top players back in, to help coach the next generation.
The good news keeps on coming! It’s only for a season initially, so here’s hoping it works out for both parties and Kelly Smith’s association with Arsenal Women continues for many, many more years.
I’m happy to see that means two of the coaches are women. We are increasing the participation of women players, but it’s just as important to have more women coaches in women’s football.
This is a fantastic signing. Kelly Smith will make a big difference to our forwards and can also give Katie McC some tips on building relationships with refs.
Katie has improved, she doesn’t get booked in EVERY game!
🤣
My idol too 👏
Listening to the arsenal.com video of Kelly Smith talking about her role. She says she is there “to work with the strikers – Stina, Alessia, *Viv*…” So if Miedema is going back to her old position, at least one regular poster will be very happy.
Personally, I think Viv’s best position is on the pitch. The End.