Magpies assistant manager Sean Hillier described the Magpies 2-1 win at Luton Town on Sunday as “a solid performance” as United edged out the newly promoted FAWNL Division 1 South East side. Sean – appointed as assistant manager in one of new manager Dave Kitson’s first acts as manager – added that there was “room for lots of improvement but we are starting to see an identity” ahead of the big FAWNL Division 1 South West kick off on Sunday 17th August.
Hillier joins United after a successful spell behind the scenes at Brentford FC Women. He actually started his own career at the west London club, representing the Bees between school Year 7 until his final year as a scholar. He made 3 first team appearances for the club and also featured in their reserve team. Growing up in Ealing, he was one year older than a certain Ryan Peters who was also on Brentford’s books at the time.
From Brentford it was onto the non-league circuit for Sean. Reflecting on his time after Brentford he summarises: “I went to AFC Wimbledon under Dave Anderson. It was a successful season in the Ryman Premier League. We were a part time side playing at Kingsmeadow in Kingston. From there I moved to North Greenford for most of the rest of my career, playing as a right back.”
From then it was onto coaching, thanks to the wife of a friend and colleague who had made nearly 200 appearances for the Bees. Sean explains: “at aged 33 or 34 decided to stop playing. Initially I was not in the mindset to take up coaching but one of my best friends is Karleigh Osborne, who took on the Brentford FC Women’s managerial job in 2018. One day his wife said to him ‘would Sean help you’? I took my UEFA B licence that year – I was already planning to do it – and fell in love with coaching. In 7 seasons at Brenford we had 2 promotions. Twice in a row we were close to promotion from Tier 6 to 5, and we had success in cups – going through the FA Cup qualifying rounds and losing narrowly to Fulham in Round 3. We won the Capital Cup twice, the League plate and reached the semi-final of League cup. Finally, last season we won Tier 6, losing only once all season and winning all of our other league games”.
Osborne left his role at Brentford in the summer which opened up a new opportunity for Hillier when Dave Kitson came calling. With a number of players leaving York Road in the summer and the new management team only arriving at the start of pre-season training, Sean admitted that it had initially been “challenging” and added that “the first two weeks were tough as we learned to put names to faces of existing players and trialists. But we already feel we have a good environment, a good vibe and new players have already jumped on board that train. We are trying to get our identity into place but I must say that what we call ‘the glue’ – the established players - have been great since day 1 which really helps us all. We are all excited for the season ahead and the challenge in a tough division."
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