'I'm no trailblazer - I just love football': The Waterlooville woman creating managerial history in the men's game
The Lee-on-the-Solent coach has joined Mary Phillip in becoming the only female managers in men’s football in England and Wales
The gear box seized up on the journey towards the M27. Locked into third and unresponsive, it stubbornly refused to listen to reasoning, then ignored exasperated pleas.
Forced to concede defeat, Lisa Gale pulled her Mercedes-Benz E 350 over onto Fareham’s Newgate Lane, before reaching out to the AA for assistance, acknowledging her evening plans were cancelled.
Admittedly, the absence of Waterlooville AFC’s manager from their Thursday night training session wasn’t ideal. Likewise the non-attendance of the bag of six footballs, bibs and cones was also felt, still occupying the boot of the stranded car.
A subsequent WhatsApp plea for players to supply their own balls injected humour into proceedings, amusement embraced by a dressing room still in its infancy as a maiden season looms for the newly-formed club.
After folding 27 years ago, Waterlooville have been resurrected, with Gale challenged with winning promotion from the Premier Division of the Southampton Saturday Football League at the first time of asking.
And as one of only two women presently managing in men’s senior football in England and Wales, she’s relishing the opportunity.
‘I’m not doing this to be any kind of trailblazer’
‘I’m not doing this to be any kind of trailblazer and I haven’t got a point to prove to anybody, that’s really not how my mind works,’ Gale told The News in her first interview since the appointment.
‘I love football and I’m going out there to do a job. I’m also confident in myself to do that job. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t even attempt it. I’m doing it simply because football management has become natural to me - and this job is a natural progression.
‘This definitely isn’t me going “Oh, I feel there should be more women doing this”. It’s not like I’m desperately trying to force my way into something just because it is essentially men’s stuff.
‘I don’t think many women would want to do it because football is quite harsh! Not intentionally, but that environment is still very male-orientated and quite blokey. Men probably think “What the hell are you doing in our territory?”, which is natural.
‘Not many women would purposely go “Yes I fancy that job” - but I do. I’m used to it, it’s water off a duck’s back, people don’t really say anything to me anyway. I’m not doing this for attention, this is just for me. Being a tomboy growing up with my brothers, to me it’s natural. It’s football, I love football.
‘The lads at Waterlooville don’t care, I haven’t had any of them asking “What do you know?”. They have been absolutely fine with me - a female - being their manager.
‘There will be a lot of doubters out there, while people also like to see others fail. The thing is, I have nothing to lose. If I fail, they will say it’s because I am a girl - and if I win, then hopefully they’ll be pleasantly surprised.’
Took over her son’s football team to stop it folding
Growing up in Lee-on-the-Solent with five brothers, Gale is highly familiar with being outnumbered.
It wasn’t merely her Fleetwood-born father Alan’s passionate support for Manchester United which she inherited, it was also the former long-distance lorry driver’s deep love for all sport - and that competitive streak.
In days without girls football teams, Lisa represented Bridgemary School in Gosport at netball, hockey, volleyball, trampoline, tennis and badminton. While later taking higher level Sports Leadership at St Vincent’s College, she featured for their athletics team, participating in the 800m, long jump, shot put, discus and javelin.
There were also after-school football kickabouts on Lee Rec and, on the occasions eldest brother Gary’s five-a-side football team were short, she would receive a late call-up, albeit on the proviso she covered in goal.
However, it was through son Louie, one of Lisa’s three children, that she transitioned from being an enthusiastic mum on the sidelines at youth football matches to actually running the team in 2015.
She added: ‘I initially got involved in football for Louie. I have two girls as well, but he’s always been the sporty one.
‘He was playing for Lee Rangers at under-10s, then there was a bit of a bombshell dropped that the two dads running the team were no longer carrying on, so it would most likely disband.
‘A lot of these lads were Louie’s friends from school, they didn’t want to be split up and scattered around different clubs, so I was happy to take over. Another parent, John Pridmore, came in to help me and we made sure those kids could still play together.
‘Naturally I then needed to get my coaching badges, but I couldn’t stop there. I did a first aid course and a refereeing course - I always want to do things properly! I had to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing when running Louie’s team. We didn’t have referees half the time anyway, so I could also help there.
‘Even now, every Sunday you’ll find me running the line for Louie’s Sunday League team Gosport Falcons. I like it, but there’s too much mouth. You wouldn’t speak to me like that in any other walk of life, so why do you feel like you can if I’m running the line?
‘Then I moved the team over to Gosport Borough Youth Under-13s, managing us on Saturdays in the Mid-Solent Youth League. We won the League Cup three years running and captured the A League title in our final under-18 season.
‘Perhaps it was because of their young age, but our lads quickly took on board they now had a female manager, none of them ever questioned it, Louie never got any stick, in fact he’s always been really proud of me.
‘You always get lads who are a bit chirpy and in one game, an opponent made a generic comment to Louie about ‘his mum’. He just turned around and said “She’s stood over there if you want to tell her yourself”. This lad had no idea the mum was actually running the football team!’
Husband-and-wife managerial partnership at Infinity
It was as a husband-and-wife managerial partnership that Lisa first made her mark in men’s senior football.
The former Pompey defender notably led the Hawks into the FA Cup fourth round in January 2008, where they faced a star-studded Liverpool at Anfield. Remarkably the non-leaguers twice took the lead, only to lose 5-2, although winning plenty of admirers.
Some 16 years later, he joined the hierarchy at the Sidlesham-based club, competing in the Southern Combination Football League. Within weeks, Shaun was back in the dug-out following manager Rich Bessey’s resignation.
Seeking a first-team assistant, he turned to wife Lisa, and, over the next 16 months, the duo masterminded Infinity to eye-catching league and cup progress.
A fifth-placed Division One finish in 2024-25 earned the club from West Sussex play-off qualification, only to lose to Forest Row in the final, courtesy of an agonising 93rd-minute goal.
In addition, they reached the second-round proper of the FA Vase in November 2025, when they were beaten 2-1 by reigning holders Whitstable.
Now Lisa Gale is going it alone at Waterlooville, while Shaun is back with the Hawks, having been appointed assistant to Aaron Martin in May.
And, according to the Football Association, she joins Peckham Town’s Mary Phillip in being the only female managers currently working in men’s senior football.
‘Shaun will tell you I was manager at Infinity because he didn’t want to do the job - but it was definitely him!’ laughed Lisa, a sales executive in the mariner industry.
‘I helped in the background so he could get on with managing the team, coaching and everything else. I’m good at looking after people, I have that sort of nature, I take care of the lads.
‘People think they’re just a team which you put out. Well no, they are individuals and all completely different - and sometimes they've got stuff going on. It’s important to understand the lads and recognise when they are having a bad day and talking to talk about it. It makes for a better team environment.
‘We did have one instance at Infinity over me being a female in the dug-out - and how we kept Shaun under control I’ll never know!
‘In the first half at AFC Uckfield, the opposition had this older player who was getting really irate. He also wasn’t the fittest, which our lads were pointing out, as footballers do.
‘This bloke eventually came off just before half-time and sat in the dug-out effing and blinding, before saying to Shaun “What are you doing here? You’re so old you look like you should be dead”.
‘I responded with “Have you got Tourettes?”, to which he looked at me and said “You can F off, you slut”. It was slow motion and, as I heard the words, I turned to look at Shaun and saw it register on his face.
‘On every level you don’t say that to people, but you’ve just said it to this person’s wife! All the lads shouted “No Shaun, don’t”, while I also tried to calm him down. It could have gone badly.
‘Their manager had also heard it and immediately sent the lad to the changing room. Shaun wanted to report him, but I pointed out what good it would do. As it turned out, the lad ended up apologising to Shaun - but never to me.
‘That’s the only time anyone has ever called me anything like that. The lads on the bench can get a bit blah, blah, but I don’t take any notice. As soon as you start interacting with them, you get that boyishness of it all. I’m going to call you a name, well in response I’m now going to call you a name. You have to tune out.
‘That’s why I think I’m okay to do this. If I was a bit precious about being called names or not liking the environment, then I wouldn't do it. I know what it is, I’m never going to change that - and I am not going to try to. If I’m to stand on the sidelines, I know that is part and parcel of football.
‘I don’t really give off that aura where you can say things to me. My brothers are huge, 6ft 4-5in, big lads, and they’ll tell you that if there was ever anything going on then they would always push me to the front. You go first.
‘Growing up as kids, we fought all the time, literally fighting constantly. Not viciously, but it taught me plenty. My son Louie is 6ft 4in and a big lad and we play-fight sometimes. He often says “Mum, you are stupidly strong for an old lady!”.
‘You cannot pin me down in a wrestling ring, I’ve learnt how to get out of everything through fighting my brothers, I’ve had to learn to. I am stupidly strong for a girl, it’s my upbringing, but I’m still a girly girl.
‘People massively underestimate me because I do things. I don’t chat about it, I just quietly go about my business and get it done.’
Uefa C coaching licence
Former Fleetlands general manager Lee Stainton - son of late well-known local football and Pompey figure Ray Stainton - is the driving force behind Waterlooville’s rebirth after a 27-year absence.
Having dismissed former Pompey Academy duo Harvey Bradbury as director of football and Jack Maloney as manager before a ball had been kicked, he surprisingly unveiled Lisa as his new first-team boss in June.
Possessing a Uefa C licence, she has also brought son Louie, a central defender, and 19-year-old step-son Bradley, a right winger, to the club to bolster squad options.
By a quirk of circumstance, Waterlooville are to play home games at AFC Portchester and compete in the Southampton League, after the Hampshire League and Mid-Solent Football League both rejected applications to include the newly-formed club.
For an area whose natural affiliation is with Portsmouth, they now find themselves pitted against the likes of Fleming Athletic, Fordingbridge Turks, Michelmersh & Timsbury, Sherfield English and Select Generation from the other end of the M27.
And with the season kicking off on September 5 with a trip to Nursling & Shirley Reserves at the Hatches Farm Playing Fields in Romsey, Gale is focused on the two automatic promotion spots up for grabs.
She said: ‘I look at Waterlooville as a project, getting something started, and that excites me.
We are a new football club and you must start at the bottom, which is only correct - but the aim is to quickly get out of this league.
‘We’ve had to create a squad from nothing, which has been a challenge. I need to make sure the players are fit, they are available and they are committed. We haven’t had a consistent team out in any of the six friendlies we’ve played so far, but you can see they are growing and growing.
‘You start with a massive bunch of players, some have tried out, some have decided the level is not where they want to play, maybe higher or lower. Some have decided they don’t want to play football any more, people have also been on holiday.
‘Our goalkeeper, Logan O’Donnell, has a knee problem. He tried warming up at Selsey the other week, but the ground was too hard and he realised it was too soon. So we’ve brought in another keeper to help us out in pre-season. You just have to find answers.
‘Being a new club relying on volunteers, we’ve all had to dig in. I’ve done the physio, made the tea, filled the water bottles, and washed the kit. Go into my garden on a Sunday afternoon and the shirts are there!
‘I’m one of these people who likes to do everything, the busier I am, the happier I am. I have a full-time job, a puppy, three children, a house to run, and Shaun to look after. I am no good if I’m not busy, I can’t just sit around.’
Thankfully, the Mercedes-Benz’s gearbox is now in full working order, with the diesel particulate filter (DPF) having been identified as the primary cause.
Not that the unfortunate car’s misery is over. Last week the family’s four-month-old Cockapoo called Luma threw up on the leather rear back seat, just 10 minutes into a car journey.
As always, Lisa volunteered to clear up the mess. Another job to dedicate herself to.
‘I don’t want to be famous, I don’t even like being in the public eye’
‘It’s a brave decision from Lee to appoint me at Waterlooville, especially at this level. He may well know what I am capable of, but barely anybody else will. I’m so glad he did, this has given me a chance to go out and do a good job,’ she added.
‘As a female, you have to be of a certain mindset to be able to do something like this, I don’t think it’s for the faint of heart, I genuinely don't. I have constantly been around football, but if you go in not knowing, while attempting to bring a female element into this sort of environment, I’m not sure that would work.
‘I only ever did this initially because my son wanted to play football and I wished to be involved. It just happened to be something I was all right at. That’s the only reason.
‘It’s not because I want to be the first woman around here to be a football manager in the men’s game or anything like that. I’m no trailblazer, I don’t want to be famous, I don’t even like being in the public eye. Pretty much everything I ever do is for my kids.’
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