A Woman's Game Too: Now for pride and Hope after the prejudice

If Mike Newell objects to a woman running along the touchline, how apoplectic might he get if he saw one sitting in the opposite dugout bawling instructions to her team? Who is to say it won't happen one day? The dawn of The Manageress is not necessarily destined to be confined to television fiction.

The Luton manager could not have picked a less opportune moment to be sexist with his "tokenism for politically correct idiots" remark. Despite what he and other entrenched chauvinists may think, football is no longer just a man's game, and has not been for some time. Not only are women running the line, some are now running clubs and ultimately surely will have a say in running the game.

It may have escaped Newell's blinkered vision that one of the most successful "gaffers" in the English game today is a woman. OK, Hope Powell OBE may be head coach of the Englandwomen's team, who have qualified for next year's World Cup in China, but there are those who reckon she could do the same job for a League club.

Among them is Sammy Lee, who was in charge of the England Under-21 team who won in Holland last week. He was on the course, along with Alan Pardew, David Platt and Stuart Pearce, when Powell, the lone lady, became the first female ever to obtain a Uefa pro licence, the game's highest coaching qualification. Could Powell handle a men's team at high level?

"Why not? It's difficult to answer that without sounding patronising, but Hope's work was as impressive as anyone's," says Sam Allardyce's right-hand man.

Powell, 39, is already a pioneer as the first black manager of any English national side of either sex, as well as the first female. Her stewardship coincides with a phenomenal boom in the women's game, with 130,000 players and 7,000 clubs, a 49 per cent growth in the past five years. Not only have England qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1995 but Arsenal Ladies are the first British team to reach the Uefa Cup final. "It's fantastic that the years of hard work have finally paid off," says Powell. "Football is now the number one female sport."

She says she has not encountered racism or sexism "to her face" since becoming the England manager in 1998, "though I'd be lying if I said it doesn't happen". She was called "a black bastard" while playing as a youngster (she started in South London street football with her brothers, was a Millwall Lioness at 11, won 66 caps and scored 35 goals for England), and "couldn't believe it" when she was once the subject of a Nazi salute. She is now heavily involved in football's Kick It Out campaign. "We've taken quite a few steps forward, though it is hard going, and I hope that progress continues," says Powell.

After the supportive attitude she has received from men in the game, notably her original FA mentor Howard Wilkinson, Newell's outburst came as a shock. "Obviously the FA have made a statement supporting Amy [Rayner, assistant referee in Luton's home defeat by QPR last Saturday] and I go along with that. It really shouldn't be made into a gender issue. Amy has the qualifications and has every right to be doing that job. It wasn't necessary for him [Newell] to say anything like that, but at least he was big enough to come out and say he was sorry, so I hope we can move on."

In the past she has worked with boys' teams and has also done some coaching with men. Her assistant manager and chief scout are also male. "I don't have a problem with that at all." So would she ever fancy being in charge of a Premiership or League side? "If I was asked, probably yes. I'd look at the options and opportunities. But I've never been asked and it really is about opportunity.

"The way things are at the moment I am not sure it is going to arise, but I certainly wouldn't be afraid to give it a go. At the end of the day it's a game of football and that's how I would see it. Maybe others wouldn't. But from what I have seen on those fly-on-the-wall documentaries, the way some managers behave is something I can't comprehend."

She doesn't throw tantrums, she says, and she has certainly never thrown a tea cup. "That's not my style." So what is? "Basically I like the players to have ownership of what they do. Let them try and work things out for themselves on the pitch. I also want their input; if they are not happy I want to know about it. I try to make it very inclusive."

Down at Millwall, her old alma mater, another feisty female, Heather Rabbatts, has just become the chair, and is just the person who one day might put a woman on the bench. Football's first manageress? Beware the myopic Mike Newells of this world. There's always Hope.