"You have to have a bit of nouse!" Mansfield Town Ladies boss Andi Bell wants her side to mix attractive football with battling spirit

Bell took over the managerial after nine months as player-assistant with the club, and has revealed the blueprint she hopes will bring glory to Town.

"I like them to play good football," Bell told The Chad.

"That would be my go-to. But I understand the women's game and, certainly at this kind of level, you have to have a Plan B.

"You can come across some quite physical teams, particularly if you've got a lot of young players. It'll be a big challenge for them.

"You have to have a bit of nouse about you. Certainly we need a Plan B, but we want people to play football."

The new Town boss is adamant that the 3G pitch the club uses for home games at the R&H Academy will aid her side's ability to implement her brand of football.

Her next goal is to get the squad together as she begins plotting a path to the National League.

"We play on such a good surface and we have to make that a fortress for us," Bell said.

“We're lucky with the facilities we've got and that helps the girls.

"It's a strange time for everyone. I don't think any actual decisions have been made as to when the league will start, so we're all a little up in the air.

"We're on Zoom doing some stuff. There's plenty we can do using technology and we're thankful for that.

"As to starting training, its up in the air at the moment. But I'm looking forward to getting going."

Since Bell began playing, she has seen huge changes in women's and girls' football.

As the sport grows, and gains greater recognition, she sees it as vital that her players make the most of their experiences.

"I think it's really positive from when I started playing. It's a massive change," she continued.

"I try to pass this on to our players and tell them you don't get many opportunities for a promotion push. Take opportunities and don't have any regrets.

"Coming from where I came from, paying to play and playing on terrible facilities, it's just amazing. The more girls and boys we can encourage to play the better

"We've got a good junior section and a good pathway coming through. Certainly we'll be watching some games and seeing how that progresses and getting more integrated with the juniors."

Bell's career has seen her turn out for the likes of Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Tranmere, Middlesbrough Blackburn and Garswood Saints after forging a passion for the sport early on.

"I've been playing for about 25 years," she said. "I'm from Hartlepool and started off when my dad set up a girls' team so I could play. I forced my other sisters to play."

After playing for her dad's team Bell has turned out for a number of different managers. Now the new Mansfield boss is hoping to use the experiences of working under different personalities to create her own methods in the dug-out.

She explained: "I think I probably played under a good variety of managers.

"The really managerially-focussed and coaching-focussed ones you pick up a lot of stuff from.

“You see what you've enjoyed as a player and what works. You pick up the things people enjoy, which tend to be the more competitive practices. They're the sessions we're trying to put on now."

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