Yesterday I was lucky enough to meet Karen Carney and Kerys Harrop of the Birmingham City Ladies team to talk to them about the Women’s FA Cup win and their season in general.

OP: What was it like to win the FA Cup for your hometown team Karen?

KC: It was amazing, probably the best thing I’ve ever done. I’ve won it twice with Arsenal but it has no comparison to what it means to the whole team and the club, and for me personally to win it for the team I grew up supporting. It was amazing.

OP: What about you Kerys? This is your first trophy isn’t it?

KH: Yeah, it’s the first major trophy that we’ve won at Birmingham. We’ve won a few county cups in the past but this is another level.

OP: You were all a bit excited on the pitch – did you get hit by the champagne when you were celebrating?

KC: I got loads of champagne in my eye and I actually couldn’t see anything for ten minutes so I was trying to like scrape it out…

KH: Those were tears you scraped out.

KC: There was champagne as well (laughs)

OP: Was there a bit of a party in the dressing room afterwards

KC: I wasn’t in there.

KH: I think me and Karen were the last ones in there cos we’d been around the crowd to sign autographs around the pitch, I think me and Kaz were the last ones in the changing rooms so by the time we got  in everyone was having a shower.

KC: There was only two people there when I walked in, everyone had gone.

OP: So with all the increased expectation because of the increased exposure, people know a lot more about you, how are you guys dealing with that? Is it harder to play in front of more fans, or more exciting?

KH: I think it’s more exciting now, we’re just going to make the most of it really, we’re still coming  off the high after winning the FA Cup, I think we’ve got to keep that with us and take it through the rest of the season. It’s not too much pressure really, we played in front of a big crowd at the final, so I think we can get used to that now on a regular basis.

OP: You’re now competing in the WSL, and you have the Continental Cup, and you have a quite small squad – do you see any pressure there? Do you think it is going to be hard, like in comparison to the men’s side which struggled in the latter part of last season due to having so few players.

KC: We’ve got a good sports scientist at the club, who manages us very well; they try and keep us fresh and fit for each game and if we just listen to them and do everything they say then touch wood, everyone is healthy – then we should be fine. We’re a fit bunch – hopefully we’ll remain a healthy bunch.

OP: With the Olympics coming up, you’re both on the shortlist, are you looking forwards to that?

KH: It’s a massive thing, coming to your home country, it would be an amazing thing if either of us were to be involved.

courtesy www.footymatters.com

OP: You’ve got a six-week break in the season because of the Olympics, would that affect how the team plays, or do you think you’ll be alright?

KC: It was the same last year, where everyone dispersed for the world cup, we had a six-week break. I don’t think we handled it well as a team, we had a great start to the season and then we came back we had a bit of a slump but we’ll massively learn from that last year and hopefully the same mistakes won’t happen again. We’re used to it now as it’s the second time so we should know how it works.

OP: Do you think you’ll be helped by the fact that there are so many of Birmingham City players in the shortlist – 8 at the moment – will that help keep momentum going?

KH: I think so yeah, think it be good to have us all playing and training together, the rest will be training together whilst the Olympic squad are away. I think it will definitely help for us to stay together and hopefully playing in the Olympics.

OP: You’ve got Europe coming up in October – the Champions League. I know you won it before with Arsenal – is there anyone you want to play this time?

KC: I think anyone we’ll play will be of a great standard. When you do go and play in the European Cup there are so many different styles of play from different teams in different nations – it’s different from international football and from club football. So to play anyone you’re going to have a tough game – you just hope you turn up on the day, play a good game and get a good result.

OP: It’s great to see the name of Birmingham in Europe again; the men’s team had a great time with a great following – are you hoping to take many with you?

KH: We have got a small select group of loyal fans, and I’m sure they’ll come along with friends and family – and hopefully a few more Blues fans will come and support us.

Birmingham City Ladies are next in action against Doncaster Rovers Belles in the Continental Cup on Sunday 10 June, 2pm kick off at Stratford Town’s DCS Stadium.

Thanks to Andy Walker at BCFC and Paul Bradley at BPM for setting this up, and to Kerys Harrop and Karen Carney for allowing a novice to ask them some questions.

Tags: Karen Carney, Kerys Harrop