Lisa Fallon has said that one of the driving factors that led her to take over as head coach of London City Lionesses was the potential that she saw at the club.
Fallon, who has formerly worked with Cork City, Northern Ireland, the Dublin footballers and most recently the Chelsea women's side, was announced as the new head coach of the Lionesses on Wednesday.
And she said that the ambition that she seen amongst the club’s players has made her very excited as she takes over the London side.
The Lionesses ply their trade in the second tier of the English league, the FA Women’s Championship, and Fallon can now start preparing for next season as this year’s campaign was cancelled as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
"There is a lot of potential at the club and for me potential is the greatest currency that you can have," said Fallon, speaking to 2fm’s Game On.
"I have spoken to the players and they are a great bunch. They are ambitious and eager to get back out on the pitch once it is safe to do so."
The appointment is Fallon’s first professional managerial role and she said that she will take aspects and inspiration from all those that she has worked with in the game as she looks to build a strong, hard-working outfit.
"I have been so fortunate to work with people like John Caulfield, Michael O’Neill and Jim Gavin and I have learned a lot from them.
"Over the course of time you are always taking bits from each manager and while I have my own ideas, I am not very set on how I want to play, as I think the players will dictate that and I want to work with the players to see what we are.
"The one thing that I have learned is that every team has a different culture and that is not just based on the manager but the players and the staff.
"I have key values and philosophies that I will try to instill within the team and try to nail down our collective identity."
But Fallon insists that the one constant within her side will be the work ethic that she brings, which she believes has been a major factor throughout her life in both family and football.
"Hard work is the fundamental of what you are and if you do not work hard you can have no excuses.
"My family have worked for everything that we have. My mother was a single mother growing up and she was an inspiration – we never needed anything and were never without anything and it was all from hard work.
"Any manager that I have worked with the core of the team has always been hard work and there is something very honest in that. It is who I am, I work hard and when you love your job it is easy to work hard."
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