Nick Cushing on his future and assessment of Manchester City women's struggles this season

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Nick Cushing on his future and assessment of Manchester City women's struggles this season    09/05/2025  CGA, Manchester, UK

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00:00it's also been you know really enjoyable i spent december january february without a team right and

00:08it's you know one thing i've learned about myself is that i'm better in a team i'm happy in a team i'm

00:16really motivated to continue to be successful um the coaching and being around the players and um

00:24um planning games and big games that we've had you know i've been almost at home in that

00:32in that moment so post this who knows as again you know there's been no conversations

00:39with this team about continuing um but one thing i will say is you know my desire is and my intention

00:46is to be with the team from preseason um and i i'm almost certain i will be with the team from

00:51preseason um you know there were some really good conversations when i was out through december

00:58january february um about you know being with the team in you know leading the team in preseason and

01:06you know i i have to park them when i come into this role and i really enjoy it but my desire is

01:10to be with i will be with the team from preseason and i'm really excited for that we've seen various

01:15clubs in the last few days sort of say this will be the last game for so-and-so players will this be

01:19will saturday's game be a a farewell for some of the players as well this this this weekend yeah

01:25like you know this it's almost a follow-on to the last question there's been no conversations with me

01:30about the squad i couldn't tell you you know how this squad will look next season i've not been

01:34involved in any conversations about the future of the team who will stay who will leave who will come in

01:41recruitment and retention and those things are natural right i'm sure every wsl club

01:46premier league club will look different um next season based off that but you know as far as

01:54planning for the future of this team i haven't been involved in that so i couldn't tell you

01:58players you've got edging some players back over the last few weeks saw jill world come off the bench

02:03and then you lost layla or harby so i'm still after a squad update really and is there a chance we could

02:07maybe see bunny sure considering i presume she really wants to finish top scorer this season yeah no she won't

02:12be involved she's she's not been with the team she's still in in that initial stage of rehab with

02:18the medical team um you know disappointing to lose layla she's been the real top professional and

02:24you know she's really helped me as an experienced player in this moment um so you know it was tough to

02:30lose an experienced player in a big game like the game against man united but it was really positive to

02:35get alex through 90 minutes lauren hemp played 60 so she's now available to play the whole game you know

02:40getting lauren and getting alba in it's hugely positive right so there's you know there's no

02:46new updates in the sense of you know the likes of viv and bunny but but we've got players that are

02:52available to start games that weren't and available to play more minutes so it's you know it's positive

02:56it's really important to me that we deliver a strong performance for our fans tomorrow so to have a

03:02strong squad to pick from that definitely helps finally with no sort of chance of moving up the table

03:08is this a game where you can sort of give some of the younger players or players that haven't had

03:11much of a chance this season a full 90 minutes to see what they could do going forward um yeah it's

03:16an opportunity but you know my desire is to finish strong i think you know we know that um we fell

03:22short of the standard we set for our supporters and um you know i said post manchester united right

03:29these things happen in football you you have seasons where you have terrible luck and you have seasons

03:34where maybe you don't hit the level that it is what it is right um but what we have to do is

03:40deliver a really strong performance we have to leave our fans um with a positive feeling we have to show

03:46them that um we have a huge motivation to do better to have the desire to be more consistent

03:54so yeah it is an opportunity to put some younger players in it's an opportunity to get some game time

03:59for players i haven't but you know my focus is on approaching this game like we have to win to get

04:04champions league still i think that is always my mindset and always will be my mindset thank you

04:10tom oh uh hi nick nice to see you um could i just ask following up on anton's first question um sounds

04:15from what you're saying is that things are quite far along and you're hoping to be with a team from

04:18pre-season does that mean to say that if city women turn around on monday and offered you the chance to

04:24stay with this team that you're not available what's your situation in that regard no no no don't get me wrong i'm not

04:29not far along with anybody there is no plan there is no team it's just my own desire right you know i'm

04:38playing this game we're doing the world sevens and then you know i will then look at where and when

04:45i'm going to be back in i just have a huge desire to be with the team i think you know december january

04:50february taught me that um i still have the energy and i still have the desire to compete for trophies

04:59to be successful to create a winning environment um and when you're in that moment you have the

05:04opportunity to really look right and then come march 11 i'm in with the team and my full focus was on

05:10the games and has been but uh you know the answer to anton's question was there has been no conversations

05:17in me continuing here whether it be with a men's or a women's team and i have no concrete move

05:25but i have a real desire right and um this has only fueled it playing in league cup finals and chasing

05:30champions league semi-finals and it's just made me have a huge desire to you know take some time with

05:38my family post world sevens and then be back at it hopefully with a team that matches my ambition and

05:46my desire and hunger to continue to compete for trophies okay and um you mentioned the world sevens i'm just

05:52just wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the decision to go into that tournament

05:55sort of how i think mark skinner said yesterday that it was sort of it was going to be fun or bonkers

05:59like how are you looking how much you're looking forward to it and what's it gonna

06:03be like do you think in terms of the tournament itself and the chance for the players to kind of

06:07showcase their skills yeah i think it's really exciting you know i think um it's a different form of

06:14the game it's brand new i think you know we're excited to be part of the inaugural tournament

06:20right and i think that you look at the magnitude of the teams that are involved you can see how serious

06:25of an event that it's going to be right so we've committed to playing this year and um i think mark

06:31has sort of summarized it well right but it's going to be really fun and um it's going to be competitive

06:36and yeah like i say you know i'm excited to be involved in it i know our team is and now club is and

06:42you know you look at the teams that we're playing it's gonna be a good challenge please

06:45could i ask about your opponents tomorrow crystal palace uh i'm particularly wondering what you've

06:49made of it maybe compared to when you were in the league before we've seen various teams that um

06:54dropped down for didn't read like yoval for example or different teams that were lower lower in the

06:58points ranking than palace but where do you think the gap is now between the teams coming up and the

07:04teams going down and how much sympathy do you have for palace this season with with how they've they've

07:09sort of got more points than some who've gone down but still haven't quite had enough yeah it's tough

07:15you know i i think it's twofold right i think the fact that palace have more points shows the growth

07:23of the league shows how competitive the league is getting i think you can see you know we've had some

07:28really tough games against brighton and everton and so the league is definitely from my time 2019

07:34and then coming back now the league is definitely getting stronger i think um

07:40i'm excited to see london in the league next year you can see what they're doing what the the ownership

07:45group and the team is doing there um so you know when you reference the likes of yoval and now crystal

07:51palace may be coming and going down i think it's going to be a completely different situation with

07:55london coming up they look like a team that has a a real serious ambition to be successful thank you nick see you tomorrow

08:02hi nick we see this uh saturday's game sort of kind of dedicated to the fans it's kind of a real

08:13celebration of their support just from since you come into till tomorrow what have you made of the

08:18the fans backing and how nice has it been for you to sort of lead a team in front of those fans again

08:23yeah it's it's been everything to me um you know i've had some really really special games as the head

08:30coach of this team in my in my previous tenure and and the chelsea champions league game here will

08:36is well embedded in that because the support that we received in the game and the support that we

08:42received post game you know it's special moments why this team is really ingrained in me and my family's

08:48life and these supporters are you know huge part if not the main part of that so it's been a real proud

08:57privilege to lead this team again i take the responsibility really really serious and that's

09:02why you know i'm a disappointment in not be able to deliver champions league deliver a trophy you know

09:09has really fueled my motivation for continuing to be successful um i said it straight off the pitch

09:16in manchester united in old trafford that this game we have to deliver a performance for the fans and it has

09:21to be you know whether you are here you're not whether you're in the team you're out the team

09:25whatever the evolution of this team is the focus is on this game against crystal palace and making

09:30sure the performance is at the level that we can deliver for those people you know the fans cheers

09:35thank you thank you we'll go to zoom now elizabeth you have a question hi nick hope you will um just a

09:43question on the fans from us um we've noticed that city's home attendance has actually gone down a little bit

09:48this season i was just wondering if you had any kind of reasons or thoughts on that and why maybe

09:54that's happened um no i i will always say that uh the performances that we deliver on the pitch the

10:00product that we put out there the the desire the commitment the um you know the what we give

10:10has to be for the fans and you know i'll say again that chelsea game was one that for me was a real

10:18special occasion you know i think for us as staff players head coach leaders we have to deliver that

10:24week in week out whoever plays here and um we have special fans right i have full confidence that what

10:31we will deliver here on the pitch and off the pitch will continue to be uh a real special experience

10:39and just kind of across the league and compared to your you know previous stint in charge have you

10:44noticed changes in the crowds um is there kind of noticeable difference no because you know it was

10:52we had an amazing occasion in the etihad but we didn't deliver the result you know i thought the

10:58fans were excellent in the everton game in pushing us on to try and get over the line and turn that

11:03you know game into a win i think you know i will still say i don't think we've executed enough results

11:08the performances have been good the the you know the players desire and ambition is there i've seen

11:13that on the first day but you know we've fell the wrong side of too many results in the sense of 1-0 up

11:19against chelsea 1-1 against everton you know 1-1 against chelsea in the league cup final and we've not

11:25been able to turn those games into wins so um for us it's about reflecting and reviewing and making sure

11:32that what we deliver on the pitch brings the fans in excites the fans and continues to be at the level

11:38that me personally i expect for our football team great thanks nick good luck tomorrow thank you thanks

11:45everyone thank you guys

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