Mo Marley, England’s interim women’s coach, says she would be “100% willing” to consider selecting Eni Aluko for future squads after revealing that her application to succeed Mark Sampson on a longer-term basis has been submitted to the Football Association.
On Wednesday the Football Association apologised to the striker and her Chelsea team-mate Drew Spence for racially discriminatory remarks made by Sampson. The former England coach was described as having made unacceptably “ill-judged attempts at humour” by the investigating barrister, Katharine Newton, who nonetheless did not conclude that he was racist.
The 30-year-old Chelsea striker, who has 102 caps, has not played for England since the spring of 2016 but Marley, previously England’s Under-19 coach, is adamant she intends to pursue an open door policy. “I’ve only been in post pretty much 10 days but in those 10 days we’ve had talent spotters out assessing everybody available to play for England,” she said as her squad trained in northern France on Thursday before Friday night’s friendly against Les Bleus in Valenciennes.
“It’s not just about one player, there’s a lot of good young talent out there and we want to find players playing regularly and doing well for their clubs who can help us get to the World Cup finals here in France in 2019 and more importantly go from No3 in the world to No1,” added Marley.
Asked if that meant a potential chance for Aluko should she perform well for Chelsea in the WSL, Marley, replied: “Yes, 100%, that’s the way I work.” So far this season Aluko has been selected mainly as a substitute by Chelsea and will need to re-establish herself as a regular in Emma Hayes’s side before being considered for any recall.
Marley, meanwhile, submitted her application to become England’s new coach before Tuesday’s deadline. The 50-year-old, who previously assisted Hope Powell, Sampson’s predecessor, has already been asked to take charge of next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kazakhstan but is now regarded as a favourite to secure the role permanently in the new year.
A holder of pro-licence coaching qualification and former manager of Everton, Marley ticks a lot of boxes and also worked with every member of the current senior squad at Under-19 level.
Yet while the FA will regard the next three games as an audition, she will see the experience as an opportunity to gauge whether the role is what she really wants. “It’s about finding the best person for the job,” said Marley. “It’s been a difficult time for the players but, so far, I’m really enjoying it.”
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