Boreham Wood have made an exciting addition to their management team with the appointment of former Arsenal Ladies manager Vic Akers.
After founding the Arsenal Ladies team in 1987, the former left-back enjoyed a trophy laden 22 years in spell of the side, winning the FA Women’s Premier League Cup 10 times and the FA Women’s Premier League 11 times as well as the UEAFA Women’s Cup in 2007.
Before embarking on a successful managerial career, Akers spent much of his playing days in Non-League, where he won the treble of the Isthmian League Premier Division, Berks and Bucks Senior Cup and the Isthmian League Cup with Slough in 1981
Speaking about his arrival at Boreham Wood, Akers commented: “I spoke with Danny (Chairman Danny Hunter) and obviously I have watched a game or two down here and I have always had the invite from Danny to come down and watch games.
“We are really good friends and obviously in the last few weeks, results have changed a wee bit. After a good start, it seems to have dropped away a bit, which is disappointing for him and for Lukey (Manager Luke Garrard).
“I regard Luke as one of the best young managers around. Certainly, in non-league football he is probably up there with the best. It is unusual that they should be in this position now, because we are down in the bottom ten and only three or four points away from actually being in danger.
“We have got 12 games to go and they are going to be 12 cup finals for us. Danny thought that it would be a good idea if I was to come in and Luke agreed with it.
“It is certainly a nice challenge to come back into the game and use my experience for Luke, because obviously there are one or two things that I see that he maybe doesn’t, because he is so involved. With me coming in from the outside, it is maybe a bit different.
“I have already picked one or two things out today, so let’s hope we can turn it around and get the results we need – maybe four wins I think would do it for us. The most important thing for us is to not get beat. If we take a point out of every game, that is 12 points and we would be safe, which is important to us.
“Let’s hope that what I’ve done before rubs off a little bit here. I have been in a position, fortunately, to have such a strong women’s side over a number of years, winning most things in the women’s game, which was fantastic.
“But, I realised that it is not you, it is the players that you have around you. Let’s make sure that we have got the best we could possibly have around us and that they give us the best. That is all that we ask, that they give us everything that we are asking of them, to get the results that we need, and I think that we can do that.”