Former Manchester United No 2 showing his old club how it is done in Europe
There may be only one English club left in the Women’s Champions League, but there is an English coach riding high in the competition and creating history on the eastern side of the North Sea.
Former Manchester United assistant manager Martin Ho takes his new club, SK Brann of Norway, to Lyon on Wednesday to face the record eight-time European champions as he continues to break new ground for the Norwegian underdogs.
“Just getting to the group stage is like being in the Champions League final for this club,” says Ho. “The players can just enjoy the moment now against some world-class opposition, we can go into these games with a bit of confidence and freedom. We’re making history as the first Norwegian club to have male and female teams reach the Champions League groups stages, and I’m delighted for the players. We’re under no illusion that it’s going to be really tough to get out of the group, but we’ll give it a go.”
While Manchester United were knocked out in Women’s Champions League qualifiers, Brann eliminated Bulgarian side Lokomotiv Stara Zagora, Belgian club Anderlecht and the Scottish women’s football powerhouse Glasgow City to earn their place in the group stage. They have since earned victories over Czech side Slavia Prague and Austria’s champions St Polten in a European run of major significance to the club from Bergen, a picturesque coastal city with a population of fewer than 300,000 people.
Back in May, Ho – who was born and raised in Mossley Hill in Liverpool – was at Wembley for the Women’s FA Cup final as Manchester United manager Marc Skinner’s No 2, having also previously served as an assistant to Casey Stoney at the club.
The 33-year-old admits it was hard to leave United but the chance to be a No 1 overseas was too good to turn down. “It was really difficult, and to have that conversation with the club, especially with Marc, as a coach and as a human more importantly – I had a really good relationship with Marc and I still do now,” he says.
“I had opportunities to go to other places within Scandinavia and in England too. I had to weigh it up and look at it from a professional standpoint. There’s only so much you can do as an assistant before you want to make the next step, and I’d never want to step on anyone’s toes as a head coach.
“I’d been an assistant for 10 years and you want to get your teeth into something in the end. The success we had at Man Utd last season was probably the pinnacle of where I felt I could go as an assistant. I kind of had that spark in my stomach to see if I’m ready for management and this was the perfect project, an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.
“Ultimately, it was about me taking the next step, challenging myself, and coming out of my comfort zone to step into management. I think I’ve done that ten-fold now, coming to a different country with a different culture. I probably didn’t expect it [Champions League football] to come so quickly in my career, and I just have to pinch myself at times.”
Moving abroad also appealed to Ho, who added: “If I’d just stayed in Britain, you know the league, you know how it works, whereas here, learning from different people and different experiences can only help me in the long run.
“Some people thought maybe I was taking an easier job but it’s not an easier job. They’re a big club in Norway and they expect a lot. There’s pressure. I’ve probably gained more in the last 10 weeks alone than in the last 12 years. When you come away from England you learn there’s a lot more to footballing environments and a lot of good work goes on in different countries.
“It’s enabled me to see football from a different perspective, not just an English perspective. It’s been really refreshing. Hopefully down the line I’d like to think I can have more of these experiences in different countries. England is a totally different monster compared to here; when you look at resources, structure, revenues, investment, it’s a totally different perspective.”
There have been challenges, not least the language barrier, but he is hoping that by next summer, after 12 months of learning, he will be able to hold conversations in Norwegian.
Brann are “rebuilding” after losing more than half-a-dozen senior players last season, including Norway midfielder Lisa Naalsund to Manchester United. But Ho, who coached at Everton and Liverpool earlier in his career, wants to use his experience working with youngsters in England to nurture young stars.
The former Everton men’s youth player adds: “To say you produce your own players is such a big thing and that’s what we want, to create that pathway.
“My last message to the players every time before they play is ’go and have fun’ – you started playing for a reason as a kid and that shouldn’t be taken away from you as a professional.”
