Westham United: Nicole Farley shares on her challenges as a female coach

• Nicole Farley has worked with youth and academy teaams icluding Chelsea, Arsenal and Reading in England among others
• Farley applied for her West Ham job under the Premier League’s Coach Inclusion & Diversity Scheme (CIDS).
•  Westham appointed Farley in 2021 as their first female coach on a 23-month coaching placement
• She described the atmosphere at West Ham as exciting since it is a place where people can be themselves 

Nicole Farley readily admitted that her job is “cut-throat,” but it doesn’t stop her from aspiring to the top.

Farley is a football coach who has worked with junior and academy clubs on both sides of the Atlantic, including Chelsea, Arsenal, and Reading in England and LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls in the United States.

Farley joined West Ham last year and coaches in the club’s academy. Photo Sky Sports

“Somewhere on that field, coaching with the first team manager,” she told CNN Sport. “It may be either a male or female professional game […] The highest I can go.”

Farley is now the first female coach of Premier League club West Ham United, joining the club last year.

Resilience, self-belief, and a willingness to push outside of her comfort zone, she said, have driven her coaching career thus far — attributes that are all the more important when you’re a woman working in a male-dominated field.

According to a report published by UEFA in 2017, 4,778 women held one of UEFA’s four coaching certifications in England, compared to 76,825 men, and seven women earned a pro license, UEFA’s highest coaching degree, compared to 383 males.

“As a female coach, it is tough,” said Farley. “There are always barriers.”

Farley added about some of the day-to-day challenges she has faced as a female football coach: “Sometimes it’s almost like a lack of respect for the role or what you can bring.

“For example, it might be that I’ve got this idea and person B has got that idea, but we take person B’s, and it’s like: Well, I’ve said that idea before, but you haven’t acknowledged it.”

She’s also reflected on how her career growth has felt slower than that of some of her  colleagues.

“You think: Well, I’m getting so far, I’m excelling here, but there’s this brick wall, and I can’t seem to get any further,” says Farley.

Nicloe Farley admits it is tough being a female coach. Photo: Sky sports

“Whereas you look at someone else and say: Oh, they started from behind me, they look like they’re excelling […] It can be frustrating and hard. But keep presenting yourself as being resilient.”

Farley applied for her position at West Ham under the Premier League’s Coach Inclusion & Diversity Scheme (CIDS), which aims to increase diversity, inclusion, and equality in professional football coaching.

She is currently in the midst of a 23-month contract with the club, coaching schoolboy and professional teams across the West Ham academy’s full age range.

According to the Premier League, the goal for coaches on the CIDS is to acquire a long-term coaching job in which they may be “successful and visible role models” for future generations.

“Sadly, it shouldn’t matter if you’re male, it shouldn’t matter if you’re female, it shouldn’t matter what colour you are,”  Farley said, “but we know that historically, these barriers exist.

 However, the female coach stated that there has been noticeable “growth and investment” in the women’s game in the UK and calls being the first-ever female coach at West Ham “neat and cool.”

Nicole Farley (centre) interview. Photo: Female Coaching Network.

“It shows that these clubs are willing, and West Ham is coming from an open mindset place by offering that variety,” says Farley.

On the other hand, coaching demonstrated that she was still capable of having a “good impact” on other players. “I believe it is my calling to inspire people through my career and experience,”.

She describes the atmosphere at West Ham as one where you can “be yourself,” and it is an exciting moment to be a part of the club.

In addition to vying for a position in the Premier League’s top six by the end of the season, the men’s first team will meet Lyon in the Europa League semifinals on Thursday, marking the club’s first European quarterfinal appearance in 41 years.

“I’m 100% the competitor; I love to win in everything I do,” says Farley. “I’ll always want to try and do the best. I like to be successful.”

But, no matter what happens with her coaching career, her passion for the game will never fade.

“The beauty of football, to strip it all back, is you could be anyone from any estate environment; you might be a rich person […] you might be the person who’s grown up in the block of flats,” says Farley.

“Whatever it may be, football brings you together.”