Jocelyn Prêcheur: "It will be a good fight till the end of the season"

Jocelyn Prêcheur left the field of play on Sunday with a wide smile and three points to add to London City Lionesses Barclays Women’s Championship title bid.

Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah danced the afternoon away against Southampton, scoring in style before twirling with supporters as the full-time whistle blew on London City’s 3-1 win.

Climbing to third in the table and only one point behind league-leading Birmingham City, the Pride put a smile on Prêcheur’s face to finish 2024.

On Tuesday [17 December], he spoke exclusively to BBC Radio London’s Emma Jones.

Here is every word the Frenchman said on the Women’s Football Show.

Have the players been in training today or are they off on Christmas break?  

It was a day off today! We will start with half the team tomorrow. Some of them are already on holiday, those who have trained a lot because we started pre-season at the beginning of July, so it’s been a long time.

The players who played the most needed to have a break, but we keep going a little longer to help the rest of them develop.

A good win at the weekend, especially after a couple of defeats in the Championship. How important were those three points? 

It was essential if you want to stay in the race for promotion, it was a key game for us. As you mentioned, we had a less efficient, quite hard, November in the Championship, so it was very, very important for us to get these three points. Fortunately, that is what we did.  

The match included a goal and an assist for Kosovare Asllani. She’s a big signing for the Club, how important is it that she’s fit and performs well? 

She’s essential in this project. She brings all her experience and talent. She’s a pillar for us this season and the next. So, we talk a lot and we try to improve.

In November she was injured, she missed a few games, and it had an impact on our results. When she came back, we can see from Sunday how important she is for the team.  

Another player who’s been brought in to score you goals is Isobel Goodwin. How much pressure do you think she feels to score those goals and do you feel she's enjoying her football with you?   

She enjoys it a lot, so I don’t think she feels a lot of pressure when she plays. She shows a lot of determination every time she has the ball. She has a huge physical impact; she likes to attack space, and I like the way she fights on the pitch.

Obviously, sometimes it’s hard for her to find the freedom to shoot but each time she finds the windows to shoot, she’s efficient. I hope she can keep going like this until the end of the season.  

We were discussing earlier how tight it is in the Championship this season. It’s one of the tightest tables we've seen in quite a few years. What is the pressure like, having to deliver every single week?  

I think it’s exciting. You’re right, it’s very tough. Even for me I’ve never seen such a tough league. I think it’s exciting for the fans, it gives an opportunity to every team to compete for promotion. Anyone can win against anyone, which means we have to perform every Sunday. 

We cannot relax. But that’s our mindset at London City, we need to be ready to fight. It will be tough but it’s a good opportunity. We still have a chance despite those games we lost. It’s all positive and very exciting.  

Is there an expectation for you to get promoted as quickly as possible?

Of course, that is what we want. Michele [Kang's] project is very clear. We want to be promoted into the WSL as fast as possible. We know that it’s a lot of work, we need improvements, and we need to be efficient.

We cannot provide a very good club in just a couple of months, it’s our ambition to reach the highest levels and we’ll work hard for that. We’ll see if we can do it in one season, if we can do it then perfect. Otherwise, we come back next season working even harder.

We have to acknowledge that the other teams are also very strong, they have a lot of good players, too. It will be a good fight till the end of the season.  

One player I want to touch on is Teyah Goldie, who joined you on loan at the start of the season. She’s been out for a while with some long-term injuries, but she knows the league well from her time at Watford. How has she settled in and what sort of impact has she had? 

Yes, she’s come back from some long injuries but game after game, she finds good levels. She has also built good relationships with her teammates in the backline.

She shows a lot of determination, has a huge physical impact. But it’s also my job to help her develop because she’s still young. We want to give her the best environment to explore all her potential.  

How are you settling into London? You’ve swapped Paris for London, coming from PSG, a really big club in France. How easy was it for you to make the decision to join London City Lionesses?  

The decision was pretty easy because of Michele. The chance to be part of this project, I really believe in her vision, and I wanted to support her. What she wants to do in women’s football is just amazing.

For me, someone who has worked in women’s football for more than 15 years, meeting a person like Michele is such a good opportunity. I have waited a long time to work with someone like her, so it was easy to make this decision to follow her.

Especially in England, this is the place to be for both the Championship and the WSL. I feel the support every Sunday and how much people like the women’s game, more than any country that I’ve worked in previously.

So, I’m happy and it’s a great adventure. It’s not easy of course, very challenging, but it’s a real pleasure to work in England.  

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