New national women’s U-19 head coach Manisha Tailor taps on England experience to grow sport in S’pore

SINGAPORE – Throughout her career, Manisha Tailor has confronted entrenched gender stereotypes, often being underestimated and wrongly assumed to occupy peripheral roles instead of being recognised for her work as a football coach.

Undeterred, the Briton has gone on to build a career path spanning both men and women’s football in England, driven by her idea to “move forward and look ahead”.

Having had coaching stints with the Middlesex Girls Centre of Excellence and England Under-15 girls’ team and academy positions at Championship side Queens Park Rangers (QPR), Tailor’s latest challenge has taken her nearly 11,000km from her home in London.

In September, she took over from Fazrul Nawaz as the Singapore Under-19 women’s head coach on a two-year deal, alongside taking on the role of women’s coach developer at the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), a position dedicated to supporting women coaches.

On what drew her to coaching in Singapore, the 45-year-old said: “I wanted to widen my toolbox as a coach. I am very ambitious and driven, and I suppose that comes from my own adversities, which have led to me being extremely intrinsically motivated in terms of player development and also my personal development.”

Working in Asia had always been a goal for Tailor, who is of Indian heritage and was raised in London.

After her time at QPR, where she rose through the ranks as a volunteer to head of coach development at their boys’ academy, she joined Tottenham Hotspur as an international development coach in 2024.

She moved to Singapore in April after her application for a role at the National Development Centre (NDC) was accepted.

In addition to working with the U-13s at the NDC, Tailor also assisted the national team during their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup qualifying campaign in Jordan in July. During her time here, she has gained a more in-depth understanding of Singapore’s football ecosystem, and increasing the talent pool will be one of the key objectives.

She also noted that many young players play across multiple age groups, from the U-16s to the U-19s and even the national team, which could potentially hinder their development.

Tailor said: “When you look at player development in the purest form, we are expecting U-16s, who are 15 years old, to play in the U-19s and then also play for the first team.

“They physically will be stretched over time, and over time, the robustness and energy they have will wear off. That then has a higher risk of players becoming injury prone.”

Although her title is U-19 head coach, Tailor views her position as part of a bigger picture and has already begun implementing initiatives.

Last week, she held the first session of the emerging talent programme, aimed at supporting high-potential players aged 15 to 19 who may not be part of the national pathways, while also providing opportunities for those who do not fall under the U-19 category but are not ready for the national team yet.

Tailor was encouraged by the turnout of 20 players, especially considering that many had exams the following week. She said: “Our focus is to also look at wider projects that can assist our players to be selected for the national pathway because that’s ultimately what it comes back to.

“My job is thinking about how we can do that and not be so linear in just looking at it from an Under-19 point of view because that’d be detrimental to the whole player development pathway.”

Tailor understands she will be hard-pressed to replicate her experiences from Britain in Singapore, acknowledging the differences between the football set-up in both countries.

But she believes she can introduce certain practices here. For example, during her time as England U-15 girls’ assistant coach, players would have an allotted time when they would come together to do their schoolwork.

With much of her approach to player development influenced by her background as a primary school teacher, Tailor understands the importance of education and has integrated educational methodologies into her football coaching.

She said: “For me coming in, it’s about how can we still help them thrive because of the appetite there is for football, which is what I’ve seen. Young girls want to play football, they love the game, and adapt based on creative ideas that I can now bring.”