Casey Stoney MBE is undoubtedly the boss lady of the Manchester United women's team. The women's team is just two years old-has made significant progress in the league-currently at the top of Barclays FA Women's Super League table, remaining unbeaten after the first eight games of the campaign!
Casey Stoney during the match against Arsenal
They defeated Arsenal by a last-minute goal (scored by Ella Toone) and penalty victory over Manchester City (they were down by two goals in the first half; Tobin Heath and Kristy Hansen scored a goal each to take the match into penalties). The big three in the WSL- Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester City might soon become the big five with Manchester United and Everton.
Their impressive performance fetched them both Women Super League awards for November: Manager of the month-Casey Stoney and Player of the month-Tobin Heath. Casey Stoney received more votes than Chelsea's Emma Hayes and Manchester City's Gareth Taylor to win the award. After receiving the award, Stoney Tweeted:
"Thank you for the nomination @BarclaysFAWSL, but this award and ALL the credit goes to the players and staff around me. I'm surrounded by a motivated, hard-working, and humble group of people that want to improve and strive for success for every day!!"
Casey Stoney and Tobin Heath with their award
Even before becoming the first head coach of Manchester United, she played for the England National Team-won a bronze medal at the 2015 World cup in Canada, reached the semi-finals of Euro 2017 in the Netherlands under her captainship. She was a centre back for Arsenal (won the 2016 FA WSL at the Wembley Stadium with the Gunners); played for other clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool, Charlton, and Lincoln. In 2015, she was a recipient of an MBE-Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for her contribution in the field of football. Before retiring in 2017, she earned 130 caps for the National Team and played in many WSL finals. As a part of the player-to-coach program, she joined the coaching staff to assist Phil Neville to prepare the Lionesses for the She Believes Cup.
Casey Stoney during her International duty; with the WSL trophy; the MBE honour
A natural leader for club and country, mother to three kids, her immense passion for football has kept her going. She is also very vocal about her opinions. Recently, when Megan Rapinoe said, "And we're only just seeing a club like Manchester United put effort and pounds towards a women's team? Frankly, it's disgraceful."
She responded to the criticism by saying, "She's about two years too late for the comments. But people are going to have their say, aren't they? It's a big club. When you go to Manchester United, you get used to that. Obviously, everyone criticized Manchester United for not having a women's team, but I knew the reason why. I know why they wanted to do it when they wanted to do it and how they wanted to do it properly."
Her kids: Teddy, Willow and Tilly (via Instagram @caseytoney)
To follow Casey Stoney on Instagram is to witness the amazing way she balances her professional and personal life; starting the day either with a jog or with a cycle-ride, cooking meals, taking the kids for a walk on rest days, and reading out bedtime stories (with the renovation work going in the background). In an interview with The Guardian, she said, "What I try to do is make sure that time I do have is quality time. I've been so much better this season at making sure when it's a day off it is a day off. I get up at quarter to five in the morning, I'm home at six, so I can do at least an hour with the kids and bedtime. "
She is truly a role model for many female players who plan to pursue coaching after retiring from their sporting careers.
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