Belles manager Zoey Shaw says the club’s transition into Club Doncaster is the start of a new beginning for her side.
The most historic side in women’s football joined the Club Doncaster family in May this year, a year which coincides with the Belles 50th anniversary, and Shaw feels this is an exciting time for everyone connected with the club.
“It’s a really exciting time for us as a club, as well as for the women’s game in general, to become a part of Club Doncaster alongside Rovers, as one club united, it’s so exciting, we’re going to go out and embrace it,” she said.
“We’re going to look to take as much from them out of it as I hope they do from us, we’re looking forward to collaborating ideas, and then by doing that I feel it can really take the Belles forward.
“We’re in a much better place now, it’s a new challenge in a new league for us, we don’t know what to expect from the teams we come up against because we haven’t played any of them before, so we know we have to do a lot of work behind the scenes.”
The Belles begin life within the Club Doncaster family by playing in the Women’s National League Division One Midlands for the first time ever in their history, and for Shaw, there is only one aim for her side come April.
“We won’t beat around the bush, our ultimate goal at the end of this season is to earn promotion out of this league, Doncaster Rovers Belles deserves better, so do the players that have stayed around, I have a lot of belief in my squad to get the job done,” she added.
“We looked to retain a lot of players from last season, that was a must for us after all the development that went on last year, keeping the young ones is so valuable to us, now we’re looking to add in experienced heads, strength and depth and I feel we’ve done just that.
“This season we have a real plan in place with a proper pre-season, we’ve got the trials out the way, we’ve recruited well, I’m currently going through working towards my A License, so we’re already a massive step ahead of where we were this time last year.”