RANGERS Football Club are delighted to announce Jo Potter has been appointed the new head coach of the women’s first-team.
The announcement follows Malky Thomson’s move back to the men’s Academy at the end of last season.
Potter arrives with a wealth of knowledge, having played at the highest level both domestically and internationally with England, and also as a coach, as she joins following a spell as assistant head coach at Birmingham City.
Potter began her playing career at Chesterfield in 1999 where she spent two years before making the switch to Sheffield Wednesday. The first of her three playing spells at Birmingham City began a year later.
A season with Arsenal followed before returning to the Blues for a second spell in 2005. She was to then spend time at Charlton Athletic, Everton and Leicester City before arguably, the best period of her playing days began in 2011 as she made another return to St Andrews to begin a third spell with Birmingham. She made over 100 appearances in total for the Blues in that spell over five years and was part of the side that won the Women’s FA Cup in 2012.
Potter represented her country from under-16 level, progressing through the ranks she went on to help the under-19 side reach the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in 2003. She made her first appearances for the senior side in September 2004, featuring in two friendlies against the Netherlands.
After a seven-year absence from England, she made her return in a friendly against Sweden in August 2014, going on to compete in two major tournaments for her country.
The former midfielder was capped at senior international level on over 30 occasions overall, scoring three goals in the process with her first coming in a 13-0 win over Hungry in October 2005 in a World Cup qualifier, whilst she was also a part of the side that claimed bronze at the Women’s World Cup in 2015.
After spells with both Notts County and Reading towards the latter stages of her career, Potter called time on her playing days in January 2021 aged 36. She spent time coaching for over four years at Coventry City from 2018 in conjunction with her final playing duties, before taking up her role as assistant head coach of Birmingham City in May 2022.
Now, she heads north to Glasgow as Rangers hand her the exciting opportunity of taking the reins of the club’s women’s first-team, and to lead them into an all-new era.
Speaking upon her arrival at the Light Blues, Potter commented: “I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to work for this prestigious football club.
“I feel aligned with the club’s ambitions and standards to continually grow and move forward, especially in such a powerful time within women’s football. I can’t wait to get started.”
Incoming Rangers CEO, James Bisgrove, continued: “I am delighted to welcome Jo as our new women’s Head Coach.
“We held an extensive recruitment process, and throughout, Jo was the outstanding candidate. She brings fantastic experience to Rangers at what is a hugely exciting time for the women’s programme at the club given the interest and the crowds the team played in front of at the end of last season.
“So much good work has been undertaken at the club in recent seasons, and we look forward to Jo taking that onto a new level domestically this season, and hopefully in Europe in the seasons to come.”
Women’s and Girls’ Football Manager, Amy McDonald, added: “The club are very pleased to appoint Jo as our new head coach. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team from her successful career in England and we are confident she can bring further success and silverware as we begin a new journey to trying to regain the league title and to compete to win both cup competitions next season.
“I’m really looking forward to Jo getting started as together, we start a new and exciting era for our women’s programme.”
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Images by Pete Lopeman