Joe Montemurro has said that becoming the new manager of the women’s team has been a surreal experience.
Montemurro was named as the new manager of the Arsenal women’s team in November and has begun settling into life in England.
The Australian has come a long way to manage in England, not just geographically, and feels honoured to be coaching a team he supports.
He added that he’s yet to come down from the high of joining: “It’s a bit surreal. I sort of look and see that I’m wearing the badge and here seeing the legends and the people, so it’s very surreal actually. I’m sort of still coming down from the high, so I can’t explain it, it’s really difficult to explain, but I think surreal is the right word.”
Asked what it was that appealed about Arsenal the most, Montemurro said it was the club ethos and the way in aspires to play attacking, possession football.
“I’m an Arsenal fan and have been all my life, so obviously the footballing part of it suits the way that I think football should be played, in a proactive possession based game, and hopefully we can bring that forward in the women’s team also.”
Montemurro had spent all of his coaching career in Australia, where he achieved great success with Melbourne City WFC.
Few expected a coach from Australia to take over from Pedro Martinez Losa.
He explained how Arsenal contacted him and the straight-forward process behind his hiring.
Montemurro, who has a UEFA A coaching license through the Italian FA, said that despite Australia being a long way away, he couldn’t pass up the chance to coach Arsenal.
His first game in charge will be a Women’s Super League fixture against Liverpool on December 10th.