A WINDOW cleaner is encouraging people to get into women’s football coaching after an injury forced him to give up management.

Mark Bishop had coached the Burgess Hill women’s football team for six years before he fell from a ladder washing windows.

“I just slipped off the ladder, fell on to the bottom rung straight on and my bottom kneecap smashed into my top kneecap,” said Mark.

“It could have been worse. You have to stay positive.”

After he waited five days for surgery, the 50 year-old faced months of recovery and decided he had to give up his beloved managing job.

He said: “I’ve been in the women’s game for almost 20 years now.

“It started when my daughter’s team was going to be wound up.

“I decided to be dad and step in to coach an under 18s team.

“The plan was to set the team up and then step back for someone else to take over, but I got sucked in and fell in love with it.

“We’ve had some great times at Burgess Hill since I started.

“We won the Chairman’s Cup, we’ve got to the County Cup final for two years running and we just missed promotion last season.

“It’s stressful, it’s quite different from the men’s game, but it’s very rewarding.

“I’ve known some of the girls since they were 10 or 11, so it’s great seeing them grow up.

“But with football managing you have to do it for the right reasons.

“I couldn’t let someone do all the hard work this pre-season and just step in.”

With Mark facing many months away from the game, the self-employed window cleaner said he is “taking it easy but slowly going mad”.

But he hopes to return to coaching once he recovers from his knee woes and is hoping someone with equal enthusiasm replaces him at Burgess Hill.

Mark said: “If anything it’s the best time to get into the women’s game right now.

“You’ve got support from the FA, there are more clubs than ever, and the Women’s World Cup means the support is there.

“When I started we’d play against teams that could barely scrape 11 players.

“Now there are a dozen clubs in Sussex alone.

“It’s a good experience, especially if you’ve done men’s or youth coaching before and you want to try something new.”

Anyone interested in taking up Mark’s mantle should call chairman Peter Hickman on 01444 257822 or 07779 775265.