Emma Mukandi: 'It will give us that bit of fire in the belly that we really need to compete.'

Striding into London City Lionesses’ newly-acquired training ground, Emma Mukandi lifted the lid on her excitement at the start of a new era for the Pride.

Speaking exclusively to londoncitylionesses.com on the second day of preseason, the Scotland international reflected on the arrival of forward Kosovare Asllani, appointment of head coach Jocelyn Prêcheur, and the purchase of the team’s training ground.

Here is every word she said. 

Casting your mind back to last Thursday [27 June], what was your immediate reaction to the Club’s news?

I think it’s exciting. You can see the ambition of the club, in terms of the direction that they want to go in. With Asllani coming in with her experience, hopefully it attracts fans and some other big names that want to play here because it will only benefit the team. Having a coach of his calibre, who has experience and who comes from a different culture that we get to learn from, is great news. 

What does switching from a shared facility to a private facility mean for you as a player?

I think last season for us, that was the biggest frustration. We’ve only ever asked for an environment to be able to do our jobs. Now, there’s a professional environment for us, which is great.

How excited are you to get back on the pitch tomorrow?

I’m really excited. It feels like it’s been a really long pre pre-season. Once you get back in and start kicking a ball about, then all the work in the gym you did for the last six weeks becomes worth it. I think this is where you get to see the direction that we’ll go in and get a good feel for what the manager’s ambitions really are.

How determined are you to write a different chapter this season?

I guess last season was almost a good experience for some of the senior players who have probably never been in that position before. We have to use last season as motivation to never be in the same situation again. It will give us that bit of fire in the belly that we really need to compete. We’re having a good pre-season which will put us in good stead for the first game of the season. So yeah, definitely extremely motivated.