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Annie Zaidi has been confirmed as new first team Head Coach of Solihull Moors Ladies.

Women in Football Ambassador Annie, who was honoured on the 2017 Queen’s New Year’s Honours list with a British Empire Medal for services to football coaching, is relishing this new opportunity.

Speaking to the club's official website, she said: “I’m quite overwhelmed and honoured to be approached and asked if I’d be able to step in.

“I had my first game on Sunday, which was great. It’s going to challenge me as a coach and also develop me.

“I’m quite honoured to be asked for such a significant, high profile role within the club.

“From what I’ve seen at training and from what I’ve seen from my first game, the table position doesn’t justify the talent that we’ve got in the team – we just had a bad run and all teams go through that.

“This is a challenge, but I already know the skills that the players have. I’m pretty confident that we’ll be ok for the season.

“I think it’s about the environment that I create. You have to be in the right environment giving players a platform where they can freely express themselves.

“We’re in it together as a team now, right until the end. There no ‘I’, it’s ‘us’ together.”

Annie has previous coaching experience with Birmingham County FA, Leicester City and The FA. She has been involved with the FA Women’s National League Division 1 Midlands side since the summer of 2017, and actively taken on a number of coaching roles, including most recently Head Coach of both Moors' U16s and U9s boys.

The former Helen Rollason Award for Inspiration winner will now head-up the women's first team, where she will be supported in her coaching team by Lucy Jelf, Female Football Coordinator at Burton Albion Community Trust, and Dan Kembery, who currently coaches at Birmingham City Women.

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