Danielle Bowman (née Buet) has always wanted to be out on the grass doing what she loves best – playing the beautiful game.
The midfielder’s illustrious playing career spanned 15 years and saw her play for Arsenal, Chelsea and Notts County, finishing up as captain of Brighton & Hove Albion, where she made 46 appearances over five seasons, before retiring at the end of the 2021/22 campaign. Bowman also earned nine caps for England and was part of Hope Powell's squad at UEFA Women's Euro 2009.
When her time as a player came to an end, a new opportunity opened up on the other side of the touchline as she joined Paul Konchesky’s coaching staff for his inaugural season in charge.
It is something that Bowman had never expected to fall into so soon after playing, but it is an experience she is certainly enjoying.
“If you’d asked me a year ago whether I would be sat here talking about my role as a first-team coach, then the answer would be no, absolutely not,” Bowman began.
“I found coaching quite late on in my career. When I was playing, there was never the burning desire to be a coach once I retired. If I’m honest I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, I was just focused on playing.
“But it was when I picked up an injury at Brighton a couple of years back that I first experienced my first taste of coaching. I was captain and still wanted to be out there on the pitch, so Hope [Powell] was the manager at that time, and she got me involved in the session. I took a group of players for part of the session, and from there I got the buzz and realised that it was quite enjoyable.
“I went on and did my UEFA B Licence with a couple of my teammates at Brighton and we did it with some of the men’s players and coaches as well – which gave me a different insight into how they do things too and helped me think about coaching in a different way. Moving onto the [UEFA] A Licence, it was where I met Paul [Konchesky], and again you’re surrounded by such experience in that room, by players who have played hundreds of matches in the Premier League.
“I was quite lucky in a sense that I was playing for such a long time, so I know quite a lot of people in the game, which meant I was able watch other people coaches and learn from them. Plus, I knew I wasn’t getting any younger and I needed something to do once I’d finished playing.
“Football was always going to be in my life, I wouldn’t have been able to just walk away after I’d finished playing and go and do something completely different. I still wanted to be out on the pitch. I just didn’t know what journey I was going to take, and that first step of my coaching brought me to West Ham.”
Bowman had never encountered Konchesky before embarking on her A Licence course last year, but she could tell almost immediately that he was a genuine person with a passion for football, much like herself in that regard.
That, as well as the prospect of working at a WSL club that would offer the opportunity for her to learn about her role in a positive environment meant that it was an easy decision for her to take.
“Coming to West Ham came up out of the blue to be honest with you," Bowman explained. “It certainly wasn’t planned when I’d retired. Konch was on my course as I said, and I couldn’t believe how nice he was. He’s played at the highest level that there is, played in Europe and had a very successful career but if you didn’t know any of that, you’d just think he was a nice, normal, down to earth guy, who just wants to be the best Dad that he possibly can.
“He asked me to come to West Ham and I knew it would be the best place to start my journey because I would be working with him. He’s also beginning his coaching career, and I think that made me decide coming to West Ham would be the right fit. We bounce ideas off each other, and it’s just a real safe space.
“I can honestly say that I learn something new every day in this role, and I never thought I would be saying that. It’s opened up a completely different picture for me, now that I’m on the other side of the fence and not a player anymore – you have to think in a different way now that you’re a coach.
“I’ve really enjoyed being here, and the group of girls that we have here are spot on and have made it enjoyable. They’re hardworking, they look out for one another, and it’s a changing room that I would want to be a part of if I was still playing. It’s a cliché, but it is like being part of a family, and I didn’t expect it to feel like that when made the step into coaching.”
The experience of being ‘behind the scenes’ with the group of staff at West Ham United has made her look back and reflect on her own playing career and how life differs now on the other side of the coin.
Bowman admits there is definitely a lot of change, and that she would even perhaps change some aspects of how she was as a player now that she has been part of the coaching team.
“As a player, I was very intense – everything was always 100 miles an hour and it had to be exactly on point. But I’ve found that in the coaching world you can’t be like that because you’ve now catering for a whole team, you’ve got people who are dealing with living and working in a different culture, working with people whose first language isn’t English.
“You had to adapt the way that you do things to suit individuals, making them feel valued and having good conversations, and that can be different for every player.
“It’s definitely made me look back at how I was as a player, and I’d 100% change things. I can admit that, at times, I was a player that would moan - if I didn’t get a decision in training then I’d be moaning to the coaching team. Now I see it from the coach's side and I’m the one being moaned at! Sometimes I just think maybe I should have been a little bit nicer and less intense.
“I’ve learnt a lot about coaching as well from working with Konch and Jimmy [Walker], and we had Edu [Rubio] as well who moved onto Wolves – I’ve learnt so much from all three of them. Their experiences in the male game are slightly different to the experience that I’ve had, and I think that allows us as a coaching team to look at all the angles.
“They’re also very willing to learn from the experiences that I’ve had in the WSL and the different things that I know about the game. We will check and challenge each other as well – but it’s done in a way where people don’t feel judged or attacked.
“I’ve really enjoyed the experience so far, and I’m looking forward to reflecting on everything that I’ve learned at the end of the season.”
The WSL is a far cry from what things were like when Bowman was beginning her career at the age of 17 with Arsenal, when she worked as a personal trainer as her main source of income before turning professional with Brighton & Hove Albion.
She continued her work as a ‘PT’ right up until she joined West Ham last summer, and described what it was like in those early days and how much the game is growing and how everyone has a duty to be a pioneer and carry the women’s game forward.
“When I started out, it was two nights a week and then the game on the Sunday and that was considered full-time. At the age of 18, I never ever imagined that I would be able to call playing or coaching in football my job – just because it didn’t even seem fathomable back then.
“The fact that our girls are now able to come in every day, have breakfast, train, get in some analysis work, eat and then come back again tomorrow and do it all again is worlds away from what it was like early on in my career.
“You’ve seen how successful the Lionesses were last season in winning the Euros, but all of the work started a long time before that, way back in 2012 for the Olympics was when I think it really started to come alive. Visually being able to see how well the Team GB did on home soil [by winning their group and reaching the quarter-finals], I think that inspired a lot of people and made people take notice.
“The growth of the game is tremendous, and now we’ve got make sure that those that are within it sustain it. We all have a duty to continuing pushing the women’s game in the right direction and inspiring the next generation.
“That’s not just in the WSL, I’m talking about the wider pyramid as well. The WSL get’s all of the headlines because of the quality of players are now in the league, but there’s also the lower tiers where players are shining, and obviously grassroots where everyone starts out.
“I think it’s going to go from strength to strength and off the back of that we will see even more talented players coming through, which is incredibly exciting.”
The Hammers are preparing to face Manchester United at Old Trafford, and with seven matches remaining in the WSL, Bowman shared her thoughts on how the season has gone so far.
“Overall, I think we can say it has been a success. We started really well before Christmas and we can all see that things have dipped a bit since we’ve come back in January, but we’ve reached a Conti Cup semi-final, we’ve taken points off of a top-four side [by drawing with Arsenal] and in a lot of games it’s been fine margins.
“It was a summer of real transition, not just in the playing squad, but this was a brand-new coaching team as well, so that has brought it’s challenges and we’ve learnt a lot of lessons.
“I think the girls have really applied themselves in a professional manner and they want to keep pushing to get the results that we want in these final seven matches. We aren’t going to take our foot off the pedal because there’s still a lot of points to play for and we want to finish as high as we possibly can.
“It’s now about trying to maintain that success and make sure that we finish strongly and that we’re still saying it’s a success come the end of the season. We’ve got a target of what we want to achieve once the full-time whistle sounds on the final day, and we’re going to keep pushing towards that," Bowman concluded.
