I am looking forward to the new season as a player for QPR, but I am also hoping the club I manage, Birmingham City Ladies, is challenging for silverware at the end of the season.

My life as a player for QPR fits in well with being manager of Birmingham City Ladies. We train once a week, on Wednesday, which is a day off for QPR. Sunday, the day the women play, has always been a football day for me, not a day of rest.

I fell into coaching the women's team purely by accident - in fact it partly came about because of my support for Birmingham City. We had an FA girls' football weekend when I was about 21, and the Blues were playing.

It so happened the brother of one of the girls playing was a good mate of mine from school. He kept it under his hat, because back then he would have come in for some ribbing. It shows how far women's football has come.

But if that women's team I saw playing back then weren't in a Birmingham City shirt then I wouldn't have taken a bit of notice.

And it turned out my mate's sister was a quality player, and their dad ran the team. I was asked to come along and do a coaching session one day and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It helps when you are a player as well as a coach. Every time I come into training I learn something new off the coaching staff. When I was at Crewe under Dario Gradi he was big on getting the players into coaching, and you can learn and understand the game more.

I had got into coaching before I took over at Birmingham when I was a semi pro in non-league football for first Telford, then Kidderminster, and of course I had to do something during the day. I have always enjoyed football, and the next best thing to playing is coaching.

Birmingham are good in the way they organise things well, so al I have to do really is turn up on a Sunday and Wednesday. It's very good when you have staff that help you as well as the club helps me.

We're confident about the season ahead, because we've made eight signings over the summer - Rachel Yankey is probably the best-known. We've also got Amanda Barr from Charlton who was the top goalscorer in the league for the past two years.

We have been talked about as title favourites, which is a bit strange because we've only been in the league for two years.

With the signings I have made I am under a little bit of pressure as a manager, but we'll let everyone else talk about us while we get the job done.

If we stay free of injury and we keep the squad playing well, we'd like to think the result would be some silverware at the end of the season.

The womens' game has come a long way and is getting better and better, but it shouldn't be compared to the men's version.

I always liken it to tennis - the women's final at Wimbledon is played on the same court with the same rules, and is just as exciting. But the men's final is a different game, because it is faster and more physical.

QPR face Rotherham at home on Saturday 7 August in the opening fixture of the season whilst Birmingham City Ladies take on Bristol City away on Sunday 15 August.