Melksham football manager leads his team to the double!

A local football manager from Melksham has led his women’s team to the league and cup double in their first season.

Ian ‘Chopper’ Harris only put a side two together two weeks before the start of the season but has seen his Corsham Women’s team win all 26 games during the season and clinch both the Wiltshire County Women’s & Girls’ League and the League Cup.

“What an amazing season,” said Ian who is a former goalkeeper for Melksham Town and goalkeeping coach at several Football League and National League sides. “Two weeks before the season started we only had eight players so to have won the league and cup double is a fantastic achievement for the girls.

“The team has a real Melksham connection; our captain is Gabby Menghini who’s from Melksham and several of the players have played for Melksham Ladies.

“We even celebrated our double win in Refa in Melksham; Gias and his team there did us proud and looked after us really well. It was a great place for the celebrations.”

Ian had an impressive 40+ year career as goalkeeper for Melksham Town and goalkeeping coach for several clubs including Newport County, Bath City, Salisbury City, Hereford United, Aldershot Town, Sutton Utd, Forest Green Rovers and Weston-super-Mare. He retired when the pandemic struck but was persuaded to start coaching again by Corsham Town manager Kieron Baggs. “He asked me along to give it a go running the women’s team and I really enjoyed it. And who would have thought, a few months later, we would be double winners?!