Former Portsmouth, Southampton and England men's coach handed shock Brighton Women role

A former Pompey coach has spoken of a ‘crazy’ introduction to his shock new job - as boss of Brighton Women.

Mikey Harris was last week named as interim manager of the Women’s Super League side following the surprise dismissal of Melissa Phillips.

Harris had been serving as the Premier League club’s coaching and pathway manager in their Academy set-up before being asked to step in.

Within 48 hours, the Uefa Pro Licence holder had overseen a 2-0 defeat against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.

And the former Salisbury manager, who spent three-and-a-half years coaching in Pompey’s Academy, is relishing the temporary challenge.

Harris told the BBC: ‘It's been a crazy 48 hours really. I'm genuinely blown away by all the intelligence the players showed off the back of one session.

‘To go and perform in the way they did - and that we asked them to - was outstanding, regardless of the result. It's about building on that.

‘This is a bit of an adventure for me. I don't know how else to describe it.

‘It could be over next week, it might last longer than that. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it and help the staff to be the best versions of themselves.

‘If we can play with the style, the identity and the togetherness we did today, I'm sure the results will come.’

Pompey fan Harris had previously served as Salisbury’s assistant manager before stepping up as first-team boss for the 2013-14 season.

After totalling five years with the non-leaguers, he was appointed professional development phase lead coach in the Blues’ Academy in July 2014, working under Mark Kelly.

A popular and hard-working coach, he switched to Brighton in November 2017, taking on the role of their Academy’s professional development phase coach for two years.

He later spent time as national specialist coach with England and then Southampton’s Academy, before returning to the Amex Stadium in March 2023 as professional development phase coach.

Since September, he has been working as Academy coaching and pathway manager of the under-15s and under-21s - and now has a fresh challenge.