How Miquel went from roaming goalkeeper to Foxes boss

Amandine Miquel's Leicester City are 10th in the WSL table

Amandine Miquel did not understand a word her Chelsea coach was screaming at her when she ran from her goalline for a corner kick at the other end of the pitch nearly three decades ago.

She was only 12 at the time and yet it was a scolding that would transform the future prospects of the Frenchwoman and eventually lead her all the way back to England as boss of Women's Super League side Leicester City.

The year was 1996 and she was new to London after years living in Mexico, where she quickly adopted the famously bold Jorge Campos approach to goalkeeping – which was a heady mix of flamboyant shirts, stunning saves and a willingness to get forward to score.

"He was known to go up for corners at any moment of the game and not just at the end, so I did that," the now Foxes boss tells BBC Radio Leicester.

"I was a goalkeeper, but I attacked. Then when I arrived in England I was told I can't do that, not on all corners. I scared some teams here.

"I started playing at Chelsea and after a few games for a corner I went up and the coach screamed. I didn't understand what he was saying, but after that he explained to me that if I'm in goal, I can't attack."

It was then that Miquel was plucked out of goal and placed in midfield to feature alongside a dazzling young talent in Fara Williams – a player who would go on to earn an all-time record 172 England caps and play at four European Championships and three World Cups.

It was while watching Williams up close at youth level that Miquel realised she was better suited to life in the dugout than as a playmaker.

"I don't think I dreamed of being a football player," she said.

"I think I stopped at 20 because at that time you are barely making any money, it's a lot of commitment for not much and I could see playing with Fara that she did have something more.

"I looked at her and thought to myself, you are not making it and she is going to make a big career."

'You have to get a real job'

By the time Williams was featuring at her first major tournament for England in 2005, Miquel was already enrolled in coaching courses and aspiring to get to a World Cup as a manager – an ambition she still has today.

"When I said 'OK I can't make the World Cup as a player any more I will find a job that gets me to it anyway'," she said.

"Then I looked at my skills and I thought I will try go for coaching."

At the same time she started studying to be a teacher, taking after her parents whose careers took them and their young family around the world – from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion to North America, England and Spain.

"My grandmother says I'm a teacher, and that I teach football. It reassures her," Miquel said.

"It's a bit like when you tell your parents you want to be a singer. It's a sell when you are a woman to say you are going to be a professional player or coach. Any reasonable parent will say 'no, you have to get a real job'. But hopefully it's becoming a real job and more of us are at a good level so we can make it our day-to-day job."

It was on the islands of Reunion and Mayotte – two French territories that lie off Madagascar – where Miquel got her earliest coaching experiences.

She then went to build a career managing in lower leagues of French football with Bergerac and Niortais before she was appointed boss of Reims – a club she took from relegation danger in the second division to promotion to France's top flight, and the brink of Champions League football qualification, in eight years.

"What was most enjoyable is that from the first season to the end of the eighth, we never dropped, we always finished higher with either results or points. We never went backwards," she said.

"That really drives you, to have that every season to be better. And maybe that is why I left because I was not sure I could do it a ninth time."

What she achieved in the Champagne region with one of the smaller budgets in France's top flight is what drew her to Leicester's attention in the Women's Super League.

Revelling in 'honour' of managing Foxes

The Foxes finished 10th last season under interim boss Jennifer Foster, who stepped into the role after the sacking of Willie Kirk following an investigation into an allegation he had a relationship with a player. He admitted to the relationship in an interview with the Daily Mail last summer.

Leicester's 3-2 win against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, which was just their fourth league triumph under Miquel, again has them 10th in the table and six points clear of the relegation zone with five matches remaining.

After years of facing "less of the unexpected" in France, Miquel admits the level of competition in England's top flight has her working increasingly "harder to be prepared" each week.

It is that challenge that drew Miquel to the English game. Although, the WSL was always in her sights as a former Chelsea player.

And it is a club that she is pleased to see flying high at the top of the table with fellow Frenchwoman Sonia Bompastor at the helm.

"I told Sonia, 'you took my job but that's OK for now because I'll give you a few years and I will take it'," Miquel joked.

"It was strange to go back down there and to play against Chelsea because I've always pictured myself coaching them at some point."

Right now, Miquel says she is revelling in the "honour" of managing Leicester and dedicating everything she has to developing a club that has battled against relegation ever since reaching the WSL in 2021.

"It's a tough league, but great," she said. "When you do a job that is your passion, then you don't feel like you are going to work.

"I have zero balance. I would probably stay [at the training ground] day and night."