For the girls in royal blue - Blues Women’s first season in the second tier draws to a close as club legend Darren Carter takes a look at how his career has led him back to his home of St. Andrew’s.
Darren Carter cemented his name in Birmingham folklore at just 18 years of age, scoring the winning penalty in the 2002 Championship play-off final shootout to send Blues back to the Premier League.
20 years on and a successful playing career to boot, Carter is back in royal blue as head coach of Birmingham City Women, tasked with sending his club back to the big time once again.
After coming through the ranks at City and playing in the first team, the 39-year-old’s career saw him make the short trip to locals West Bromwich Albion before enjoying spells across the Football League with the likes of Preston and Cheltenham Town before returning back to the Midlands with hometown club Solihull Moors in the National League.
But for Carts, the opportunity to come back home and kickstart his coaching career was too good to ignore.
He said: “I always felt when I come back here, and even if it's the training ground, or the stadium to go and watch games, it's home. It just feels natural. So yeah, when I took the role here, as the women's head coach, it was as if I hadn’t been away, to be honest.
“I've been a supporter, been lucky enough to be a player. Now I'm a coach. So I don’t think there’s much more I could possibly do now. So yeah, I've been very, very fortunate to represent my club on a lot of different levels.”
A first taste in coaching came during his late playing days at Moors, the captain becoming a leader both on and off the field in both an ambassador and coaching capacity before departing the club with 137 appearances to his name in June 2021, returning to one of his former clubs and neighbours WBA Women.
The midfielder-turned-coach took on a first-team coaching role for the 2021/22 season as the Baggies looked to cement their spot in the fourth tier of women’s football before a sudden change back at St. Andrew’s changed everything.
Carter took on the head coach role at Birmingham City Women following the sacking of Scott Booth as the club battled relegation from the WSL. While such fate couldn’t be avoided, a chance to put the experience gained from previous managers into his own dugout was the perfect challenge.
“Coaching was always something I wanted to touch on and, and having, again, so many great experiences with so many different managers and coaches, some fantastic ones, are in there and just taking my experiences off them, and formulating my own coaching mind, and philosophy.
“I had Steve Bruce, Bryan Robson, Tony Mowbray, Mick McCarthy, and then some fantastic coaches in Eric Black, Mark Bowen, Aidy Boothroyd, Alan Irvine. So I've had an array of top quality managers and coaches and then it was at Solihull Moors really, when Jimmy Shan came in and Jimmy was the one really that I was kind of a first team coach slash player.
“That was the transition year for me but having someone like Jimmy, who is so super ultra detailed what he does on the grass, his own philosophy. He really did. He was the one that really planted a lot of ideas for me and gave me a bit of a blueprint on how I wanted to do it.”
Former Solihull Moors and West Brom boss Jimmy Shan brought the experienced midfielder into his coaching team for the 2020/21 season while Carter is now in charge of his own staff recruitment with Blues Women legend Jo Potter another major figure in the dugout. The former England international has taken on the assistant role at Blues this season with Carter stressing the importance of having like-minded personnel in your corner.
“Jo is probably the perfect example of someone who, you know, connect with on a football basis, we both see the game the same way and wanting to play the same way. She's an excellent coach who I can trust to every minute detail that she'll put out what we want.
“So yeah, I think, recruitment is big in players but as you said that the foundation is always your staff and, and having people around you who you can trust to get the job done in the right way.”
Blues find themselves in second place in the Barclays Women’s Championship going into the final gameweek, narrowly missing out on the title to Bristol City despite a six-game winning run.
The Second City outfit have revitalised their squad at both ends of the pitch this season too, with Jade Pennock in flying form this campaign with 11 league goals and gunning for the golden boot while the return of Claudia Walker to spearhead the attack sees Blues boast the third best goalscoring record in the division with 37 goals - a dramatic increase from their goal-shy return last season with just 15 in the WSL.
Elsewhere, Tara Bourne’s arrival on loan from Manchester United has bolstered the Blues backline while Charlie Devlin and former youngster Olivia McLoughlin have brought a new lease of life to the heart of the midfield.
Depth in all departments has contributed to Blues’ late form with the squad becoming much more than just 11 individuals on the field.
“I think when you go into a season, you build and recruit a squad that, for them moments, you know, not banking on your 11, 12, 13 players to go and perform. We've got 15, 16, 17 players who can step in and can contribute. And that's what we've seen all season.
“When you're in a game, and it's not quite happening, it's great to look at the bench and think right, I can make changes that affect the game or get us back into a game or see a game out for us. So yeah, options for a manager is always welcomed. And that's again, that's why you do all your hard work in the summer in recruiting.”
Carter has also introduced several academy prospects into the senior setup, the likes of Abbi Jenner and Layla Banaras receiving first-team minutes this campaign. The BCFC Academy has produced some of the most decorated figures in women’s football, the likes of Karen Carney receiving their break on the big stage at Birmingham, just like Darren Carter.
The former academy graduate has been pleased with the progress made behind the scenes as the club looks to produce the next crop of talented youngsters.
“I think the Academy has done some fantastic work for so many years now. And it's quite funny, really, to see how many stars now you see in the WSL that have been at this club and or started here. And the club has got a real rich history in that. And it's great that we can continue to do that and bring the players through. AJ has had a real breakthrough season this year.
“It's great, because they're homegrown talent, they've come through our system. And listen, I was one of them as a youngster, so I know what it means and how it feels. And it shows them that we, you know, we can produce our own players.”
A season of progress on and off the field, the end goal of a return to the WSL is just out of reach for the time being. However, with the likes of Darren Carter and Jo Potter leading this squad, such return is less of an if but when, with their recent winning form a sneak preview of what is to come for BCFC Women. But for Carter, a return to the top flight is not the only thing on his mind.
“We want to be back at the top level. It was heart wrenching that we fell away from it last year. It'd be great to get back up there and competing against the best again and show why this team has such a rich history in the women's game and yeah, get back to them times where there were Champions Leagues and FA Cup wins and competing for the title. Yeah, that's the aim. And hopefully in five years time we can be in and around that if not really close to it.”
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